Hey, as long as we’ve still got the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins, I think turnabout is fair play.
Go, Fightin’ Whities!!!
On the other hand…I would not go so far as Ward Churchill (a Native American author), who proposed in his book Indians ‘R’ Us that there be a new expansion team called the “N-----s”. The title of the chapter is “Let’s Spread the Fun Around!”
Do they think white people are gonna be shocked by this? I’m white and I find it funny. Now if they were the “crazy crackers” or “hornery honkies” then maybe. Nope, those are pretty funny too.
dead0man
C’mon. There already are the Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” and the Boston Celtics.
As an Irish-American, I deeply resent the stereotype of the Irish as being hyperagressive. 
Other stigmatized ethnic groups include Yankees, Vikings, Canadiens, and Canucks.
I’m Irish and I’ll hit anybody in the nose that suggests that I am overly agressive.
Seriously, what about the Orangemen of Syracuse (Irish protestants) when we are looking at religious mascots.
As for white cliches, In the Big 12 alone, we have the Cornhuskers of Nebraska (white hicks), the Sooners of Oklahoma (white guys who cheated and snuck over the Kansas/Oklahoma line to get the best land during the Oklahoma land rush), or the Jayhawks of Kansas (a Jayhawker was a person [I never heard of anyone but a white guy being a Jayhawker, but I could be wrong] who shot another in the back from ambush during the American Civil War in and around Kansas).
We won’t even bring up Aggie jokes.
No, there are plenty of negative white guy team mascots, but for some reason we seem to take a pride in them.
It might be noted that before the Cornhuskers were the Cornhuskers, their mascot was the Bugeater. Some things are just too revolting.
The only problem I see with “Fighting Whities” is that it’s the first time that a team was named with the intent to offend or mock. In other words, the motivation was childish, instead of glorifying. I know, I know, you’ll say “but ‘Redskins’ isn’t glorifying!” Yeah, it was a bad term to use, but was intended to be a symbol of strength. “Fighting Whities” reeks of a “we’ll show those guys” kind of attitude.
Let’s not forget the Atlanta Crackers From 1901 through 1965 they were the pride of Atlanta.
And boy are they showing us! Have you seen the prices on those “Fighting Whities” mugs and t-shirts? :eek: But you gotta have one! SDMB might learn a thing or two about snappy merchandising.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I watched the Crackers before the Braves moved down from Milwaukee.
The website you linked us to didn’t mention the origin of the team name, though. I wanna think it had to do with the sound of the bat hitting the ball rather than the “whiteness” of the team. Especially since they fielded Tommy Aaron and a few other black players I cannot name right now.
Of course I know the term cracker as a slang term for a caucasian, but maybe one of the other beaseball fan Dopers can shed some light on this?
Thanks
Quasi
It’s the German pronounciation! :rolleyes:
Yeah, Right! I shoulda previewed! 
Q