"Without slavery, the rebellion could never have existed. Without slavery, it could not continue."
Abraham Lincoln, December 1, 1862, Message to Congress.IN 2007, They split from the Black Sox and decided to call themselves the "Rebels".
Opposition to team names and logos such as the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians is documented and understandable, both Native Americans and white people fall on either side of the issue. I don't really care, but I'm not the one whose culture is being marketed, and sold as though it were a bottle of moonshine wrapped in Smallpox infested blanket.
Oddly, I can't remember hearing about any protests against UNLV or Ole' Miss for naming their teams "The Rebels", at least not to the extent of the "tomahawk-chop" issue on which Sports Center or Outside the Lines inevitably does an annual filler piece during the slow months of the sports year. I'm not trying to be some kind of anti-free speech, PC douche bag, teams have every right to chose any name and logo they want, even one relating to the pro-slavery side of the American Civil War, it's just not what I would do.
Anyway
It is a bit nationalist to view the term "Rebels" strictly in terms of the American Civil War. In many cases, throughout world history, rebel armies were the "good" guys. However, when your logo is this guy,
and your predominant uniform color is gray, one can assume no one has gone to great lengths to avoid Confederate connotations. It is not as if there aren't far superior options for a "Rebel" logo out there. Consider the following:
You can probably find his image on a t-shirt (most likely ironically weaved in sweatshop) worn by a hippie who spends more time taking bong hits and ranting nonsensically about "fascism" than actually doing anything. Just buy 16 of those shirts, slap numbers on the back and you're good to go.Not a fan of Che Guevara, go the Sandinista route:
looking for something less controversial and "leftist"? How about this:
Afraid no one knows that's the Star Wars Rebel logo? how about something more overt:
Sure he was only in it for the money at first, but Solo was a huge, late-season addition to the Rebel cause. Incorporating him into the uniform would be tough, but clearly worth the trouble. I dare anyone to claim Han wouldn't provide a more intimidating screen-printed presence than Yosemite Sam.
Only one conclusion can be drawn, these guys are a bunch of racists, or at the very least not very creative. They could be rocking Billy Idol jerseys and Star Wars hats, but instead they disgrace our national past time by going with a caricature of a confederate soldier.To be fair I won't discount entirely the outside possibility that Rebel management is operating on an elite level of triple-reverse-irony that is over my head, but I doubt it.
Go Ducks.
