Ralphie wrote:

How could we ignore Federals and Presidents within the top 10 ?  I gave Ambassadors the highest mark altho I don't really care for it either ("Here we go Ambos, here we go!") and would prefer Diplomats.   I like Monuments better than Monumentals.   Commanders is better than any of them.  Revolution is better than adding -aries.  How about G-Men and G-Women ?  I fear this won't end well.........

Ralphie is right. Presidents would be a natural and presumably inoffensive, since it relates to George
Washington,the current namesake of the university.
  And Monuments sounds much better than Monumentals. Relevant and sounds good.
And of course, the Buff and Blue, as suggested by Porter '71 would make too much sense for GW,. Or even The Buff.
Doubt they are open to even the slightest revision, however. Though it would give the consulting/marketing firms even more billable hours.
  Who picked the finalists? 

I will miss Colonials but I can live with:
Revs
Sentinels
and we can always say the Buff & Blue!

Gwmayhem wrote:

I realize many of us have poked fun at this whole exercise but at the end of the day, whatever nickname is chosen is presumably one we'll need to live with for a long time.  I've spoken to about 8 different individuals over the past few days, both alum and non-alum.  Sadly, each one approached me rather than the other way around.  To those who were unaware, I shared the 10 finalist names being considered.

The subsequent feedback was awful.  I hope that there are people reading this who are either in a position to enact change or who know people with this capacity.  Please...go back to the drawing board.  These are just not good choices.  Some of these are just terrible sports nicknames (can you imagine if we were really regarded as The Catalysts moving forward), some of them perhaps convey the right idea but instead, the wrong word is being used (monuments, not monumentals), some may be going for a cool vibe that may not translate well (one person said the Blue Fog sounds like an environmental disaster), one fails to account for the perception of political divisiveness within the school (The Squad), one connotes violence and weaponry (Revolutionaries), etc.  

Also, does anyone know how the final selection will actually be made?  The school has announced a series of opportunities to make your choice known, but in the end, will this boil down to a popular vote?  Will there be a committee of a handful of folks who ultimately make the decision?  Or, do we turn this over to the branding agency as well?

GWmayhem, I respect your opinion, but respectfully disagree with some of the input you received. I don't like most of the names either (and would prefer to keep the Colonials moniker), but as long as the school is moving forward with the change, I think the moniker "Truth" is excellent and meets all of the school's guidelines. It's a moniker that can be easily branded and I think it will be well received by most, other than those of us who are opposed to the change in the first place. I imagine the school understood they'd run into resistance to a name change before they officially began the process, so all the complaining in the world won't stop them. My feeling is that it's time to stop griping and support the process. 

Speaking of process, you raise a good question regarding how the final decision will be made.  I suspect there's probably a small committee that will sit around the table (or Zoom) and make the choice. I like the Truth but will support whatever they decide.

The choices are (expletive deleted) awful and embarrassing for the school. We will be mocked endlessly for almost any of the choices enumerated and rightfully so. The best choice and perhaps the only choice is for the school to admit this was a disastrous move and revert back to the Colonials. Somewhere throughout this process there has to be an adult in the room. This sounds like the process I used when I coached my daughters 3rd grade soccer team and the girls wanted to pick the team name ... sharks, minnows, dolphins, cardinals, blue jays, kitty cats, puppies, etc.... you get the picture. They want our money but they want to waste it on pure nonsense. The cost of rebranding will be significant. I don't know whether to laugh or cry that this is where we find ourselves.

Received the survey from.Patty Carocci 
Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations and Annual Giving   
alumni@gwu.edu

If you click on the link it shows I have already filled it out. Maybe email her and ask for the survey

If GW was looking for its first-ever team name that would live on jerseys, fan apparel, and in descriptions of the team, I think most folks would choose Revolutionaries over Colonials. But the overwhelming number of people will adapt, and most will probably say with three years of new branding that it's actually an improvement. 

Why GW went through this branding exercise in the way they did (sharing "guidelines" that made no real sense and then providing 10 options that don't necessarily fit the guidelines anyway) will never make sense to me.

But, we've got three names (Revolutionaries, Monuments, Sentinels) that sound somewhat natural for a sports team, one (Ambassadors) that sounds right for a college like GW even if it's soft for sports, one wild card worth flying a trial balloon for (Blue Fog) and five names that are utter crap. 

If we choose one of the five I mentioned, I think it goes the way of the Commanders where folks feel nostalgic for what's past, but have accepted it for the most part. If they choose one of the other five names, it goes the way of the Wizards, whose name stinks to this day. 

 

GWRising wrote:

The choices are (expletive deleted) awful and embarrassing for the school. We will be mocked endlessly for almost any of the choices enumerated and rightfully so. The best choice and perhaps the only choice is for the school to admit this was a disastrous move and revert back to the Colonials. Somewhere throughout this process there has to be an adult in the room. This sounds like the process I used when I coached my daughters 3rd grade soccer team and the girls wanted to pick the team name ... sharks, minnows, dolphins, cardinals, blue jays, kitty cats, puppies, etc.... you get the picture. They want our money but they want to waste it on pure nonsense. The cost of rebranding will be significant. I don't know whether to laugh or cry that this is where we find ourselves.

 And yet, even those 3rd graders had better and more realistic ideas than whoever came up with the finalists.

Gwmayhem wrote:

You think Commanders has been accepted for the most part?  Maybe we hang out in different crowds.

Wizards was a jokey name for a while (maybe still is?) but I don't see anybody calling them the Bullets except for Tony Kornheiser's references to the Curse of Les Bullez. 

I'm sure in 5-10 years kids won't bat an eye at cheering for the Commanders.  That'll just be the name of the local football team.

I agree with DC Native that people would recoil if some popular team names were proposed today:  Packers, Knickerbockers, Yankees, Mets, etc.

Vegas Golden Knights is a REALLY dumb name that got bailed out by them making it to the Stanley Cup in their first year.  Apprently they got their name because the owner went to West Point .  Go figure.

Last edited by GW0509 (2/21/2023 3:49 pm)

Why didn't they include Colonials as a choice?  Probably because it would win by a large margin.
Dayton Flyers. When I moved to Dayton years ago I didn't know what the UD Moniker meant. I was quickly informed that the Wright Brothers were from Dayton. Duh. Wright State University is in the neighborhood. Wright Patterson Air Force base is there also. 
Reading a book by Glenn Williams called 'Dunmore's WAR" . The last conflict of America's Colonial era. It was from April to November 1774. It was in the Virginia backcountry and Ohio River valley. What if the French won the "French and Indian war. " Would Colonials still be a bad name. Qui! I don't recall New Jersey having any colonies.

The University seems hell-bent on making Saturday´s game the last stand for fans to opine on the new nickname.
My knee-jerk thought is for fans to show up with signs reading “Colonials Forever” and booing all the other options when given the chance. But I fear that will just fall on deaf ears in Rice Hall. Sigh.
So here are my attempts to conjure pro´s and con´s for each name (with the caveat that con´s are much, much, much easier to conjure). In no particular order:

CATALYSTS—
Pro: It will make the engineering students happy and will require most fans at lesser schools to consult their dictionaries.
Con: This idea blows up on itself. What would the logo be? Yawn.

MONUMENTALS—
Pro: There is a monument to the founder of the University and former president the school is named for within view of dorms on-campus.
Con: It is known as “The George Washington Monument”. Note. Without the suffix “-al”. Why is the “-al” there? Do we really want to cheer for an adjective?

FIREWORKS—
Pro: It is a nickname with a bang. Get it? See what I did there?
Con: Let this idea be gone in a flash. George Washington used gunpowder to kill, not entertain crowds after minor league baseball games.

REVOLUTIONARIES—
Pro: Touches on George Washington and the American Revolution being just that, a “Revolution”.
Con: The MLS beat GW to the punch, leaving the school forced to settle for this totally not a knock-off. Others that have been called “revolutionary” have included Mao, Kanye West and Ezra Pound. Hard to chant.

BLUE FOG—
Pro: None
Con: Was SJT in a blue fog when he bought that stupid hippo statue? The Clash´s “Protex Blue” would be a crappy fight song.

SENTINELS—
Pro: Harkens to George Washington´s military background.
Con: Harkens to a military background that included killing First Nations´ peoples and stealing their land. Isn´t that the bogus excuse for dumping “Colonials” (which has nothing to do with said war crimes)? Was George Washington ever a lowly Sentinel in the first place?

TRUTH—
Pro: Um, it is so stupid stoners will think it is funny, perhaps?
Con: Don´t. Just don´t.

SQUAD—
Pro: It would make the A10 the only conference with two teams using the “qu” in their spelling (Duquesne and the “Squad”). The first member school banned by its state legislature from teaching the Jan 6 storming of the Capitol will be forced by the conference to change its name to the “Quislings”, and the hat trick will be complete.
Con: Oh. come on, you need them listed here?!?

INDEPENDENTS—
Pro: I have begrudgingly advocated for this before. George Washington himself was opposed to political parties. The tradition of the “Colonels” would be kept alive by out-of-towners referring to the “Independence”.
Con: Not very decisive, and could be construed as denial of the imperialism that the Colonials did not represent but were associated with by phonics.

AMBASSADORS—
Pro: There are a few in DC, some even go to games occasionally. Many alums have been ambassadors and as an SIA grad it is high time the University recognizes its best faculty.
Con: George Washington was not an Ambassador, he was a General and a President (and a slave owner). Makes no sense.
 
In conclusion--- The best choice remains “Colonials”. “Wildcats”, “Bulldogs” and “Bears” are better than the University´s proposals. At least “Hoyas” was not considered.
 

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (2/28/2023 8:15 pm)