According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are seriously considering a name change, and have until the end of the month to come up with a new moniker for 2007. The main reason: for quite some time now, many local Christians have taken offense to the word “Devil” in the name and want it taken out. Here are my major problems with this reasoning:
- New Jersey Devils (NHL): You really cannot top that one, makes a fish mascot pale in comparison.
- (Tie) Duke Blue Devils and Arizona State Sun Devils (NCAA): Again, very directly using a “devil” as the mascot, and yet no problem here apparantly.
- The devil ray is an animal, and is not even in the same class as #1 and 2.
- It is still a better team name than the “Mighty Ducks.”
In all honesty, if they change the name, I could care less. With all the losing that has gone on there it might help get things going. And I would have absolutely no problem if the local citizens just didn’t like the name, thought they could do better and improved it. But as for “Devil Rays” being offensive… I think the title sums up my thoughts on that one.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Seal Clubbin’ Fun » Dress It Up Anyway You Like, A Duck Is A Duck // Jun 22, 2006 at 7:00 pm
[…] By the way… looking back on my Devil Rays story, do you think this means Anaheim finds the term “Mighty” to be offensive, or just a poor choice of words to describe a mediocre hockey team? But when you take into consideration that the basis of their name comes from a movie about as popular today as New Kids on the Block, I don’t really think they went far enough. […]
2 Seal Clubbers | Seal Clubbin’ Fun » Blog Archive » Why Your Favorite Team Will Be Renamed The Candycanes Within The Next Decade // Feb 13, 2007 at 9:11 pm
[…] First off are the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who I reported back in May ‘06 were considering a name change… now they are going through with the name change, and its a good thing they were never coached by this guy, cause if they were they would have surely been embarrassed when they reached down to find out they don’t have a pair. After considering it, they are going to go ahead and unveil their new logo pretty soon, the logo they felt necessary because some christian citizens of St. Petersberg find the word ‘devil’ offensive…. and I’m really at a loss of words to try and explain just how asinine a complaint that is. Does that mean that Loony Toons is offensive because it features a Tasmanian Devil? Because if their complaint is really worth listening to, then Warner Brothers has been shoving satanic propaganda down the throats of children for decades now. […]
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