The Tale of Two Nicknames

Nicknames are synonymous with sports. Practically every sport has a nickname for each team — Raiders, Yankees, Bruins, Lakers, Trojans, etc. Players have sported colorful nicknames over the years — The Bird, His Airness, and Too Tall are just a few that come to mind. Even games and events have nicknames — The Shot Heard 'Round the World, The Immaculate Reception, The Ice Bowl, and so-on.

Some nicknames are arbitrary, meaning they're associated with one particular game or event, but can be connected to another. Football's "Greatest Game Ever Played" refers to the 1958 NFL title game, but also has been used to describe the 1971 divisional playoff between Kansas City and Miami and the 1981 divisional playoff between Miami and San Diego.

Two nicknames that have been used in college football for quite some time also have been in the news recently. One is the "12th Man" moniker used at Texas A&M to honor their fans and student body, the other is the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party — the Florida/Georgia tilt played every year. Both have stirred a bit of controversy lately, one of which has been resolved and the other is being addressed.

In the case of the "12th Man," the controversy arose when the Seattle Seahawks came into national prominence with their Super Bowl appearance. Fans in College Station noticed that the 'Hawks used the "12th Man" to describe their fans at rowdy Qwest Field. "Wait a minute," they thought. "They can't use that — it belongs to us!" So they filed suit and an injunction was placed on Seattle, barring it from using the slogan during the Super Bowl. Seahawk fans, meanwhile, wondered why the issue wasn't brought up earlier — like 20 years earlier.

Back in 1984, the Seahawks' brass decided to retire the No. 12 and dedicate it to the fans who made the Kingdome — Seattle's home stadium at the time— one of the toughest places to play in the NFL. (Trivia note: who was the only Seahawks player to wear No. 12? QB Sam Adkins.) The 'Hawks were coming into prominence at that time after a trip to the 1983 AFC championship game. I remember thinking to myself at that time that the "12th Man" slogan was a Texas A&M thing and that the Seahawks were sort of treading on college football "hallowed ground" by using it themselves.

Why it took Aggie fans so long to realize what Seattle had done is unknown. Maybe it was because the Seahawks never made it that far into the playoffs again until this season. Maybe they thought it wasn't any big deal until it started garnering national attention because of the Seahawks' success.

Whatever the case was, the issue was settled earlier this month when the Aggies and Seattle reached an agreement whereby the Seahawks can continue to use the "12th Man" slogan under license from the university, which holds a federal trademark on the saying. That's good news for 'Hawk fans and Aggie fans, and it's good to see colleges and pro teams working together to help preserve each others' traditions, even if they are copied.

The other issue involving the nickname for the Florida/Georgia game is just coming into the spotlight with a recent request from both universities that TV networks discontinue referring to the game as the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," and for good reason. Two deaths of Florida students the past two years and a national push for responsible alcohol use are prompting both schools and the Southeastern Conference to rethink the message the nickname is sending. While TV executives say they don't place focus on what the game is called, they have said they'll refrain from any reference to the game in that context.

While it may be quite some time for both the public and those close to the game — primarily Florida and Georgia alums — to curb their "Cocktail Party" references, I think the move away from designating the game as an instant party atmosphere is good. For one reason, underage drinking should not be encouraged at any time or place and, for another, more emphasis should be placed on the game itself and not on the peripherals. And while the tag may never be completely eliminated from college football vocabulary, taking weight off the nickname through the media will help dissolve it some.

Of course, these aren't the only nickname controversies to be brought to football fans' attention in recent years, but they're the latest and probably just a couple of many more to come. But, if they can be resolved through agreement by all parties involved, or they are for a worthy cause, they'll be worth the effort to rid the sports world of outdated nicknames that do nothing but portray the wrong image to fans and the general population.