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Post by freshmilwaukee on May 3, 2013 19:02:07 GMT -6
As we bring up courts and moving downtown. Item number 1B needs to be branding...a uniform brand across the board, inclusive of the university. Only way to create consistency in the brand and sell the program.
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Post by illwauk on May 4, 2013 13:35:36 GMT -6
Agreed. Especially since there's a pretty good chance that when it's all said and done, there may be THREE black and gold teams in the HL. I also hope everyone recognizes the limitations of a mascot/identity that's already used by two pro teams, nine (by my last count) D1 teams, and a dozen local high schools... bring back the Green Gulls!  |
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Post by blackcatinorange on May 5, 2013 16:24:50 GMT -6
Agreed. Especially since there's a pretty good chance that when it's all said and done, there may be THREE black and gold teams in the HL. I also hope everyone recognizes the limitations of a mascot/identity that's already used by two pro teams, nine (by my last count) D1 teams, and a dozen local high schools... bring back the Green Gulls! I really disagree with this idea. We're the Black and Gold...we are The Panthers. I never want to be a Green Gull. |
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Post by Pantherholic on May 5, 2013 21:08:18 GMT -6
bring back the Green Gulls!  |
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Post by PantherU on May 6, 2013 2:40:40 GMT -6
I don't think it's a terrible idea.
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Post by PantherU on May 6, 2013 9:24:01 GMT -6
That will be as popular as the YSU penguin. I happen to love the YSU Penguin. |
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Post by illwauk on May 6, 2013 10:10:44 GMT -6
Agreed. Especially since there's a pretty good chance that when it's all said and done, there may be THREE black and gold teams in the HL. I also hope everyone recognizes the limitations of a mascot/identity that's already used by two pro teams, nine (by my last count) D1 teams, and a dozen local high schools... bring back the Green Gulls! I really disagree with this idea. We're the Black and Gold...we are The Panthers. I never want to be a Green Gull. Do you see any green in that logo? Or that I specifically crossed out the "Green" in Green Gulls? <lame Comic Book Guy meme> Since you apparently think Gulls is the "worst idea ever," perhaps you could enlighten me as to why Panthers is such an appropriate and effective identity for Milwaukee athletics and UWM as a whole? ;D That will be as popular as the YSU penguin. I think Youngstown has one of the best identity packages of any D1 mid-major. Heck, the only thing a lot of people even know about YSU is that their nickname is the Penguins... now THAT'S an effective athletic identity. |
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Post by illwauk on May 6, 2013 10:12:40 GMT -6
Here's an article that I wrote for the UWM Post crappy website that never got published because apparently not even the people running the "Post" now even care enough to check their inbox.
Bring Back The Gulls
Let's face it… it's easier to squawk like a gull than roar like a panther.
Last Wednesday, the Panther baseball team re-adopted the Green Gulls identity used by the schools athletic teams in the campus' pre-UWM days when it was known as Milwaukee State, complete with green and white throwback-inspired uniforms, for its annual game at Miller Park.
The Gulls were a hit with the fans, many of whom made squawking seagull noises after every Milwaukee run. The tailgating parties of the players' parents and the Black & Gold Club were even visited by a pair of actual gulls before the game, which everyone seemed to agree was a good omen.
The revived Green Gulls baseball team went on to spank the Northwestern Wildcats with a 5-0 shutout.
The throwback festivities sparked an interesting conversation amongst the tailgaters regarding the teams' identity.
The truth is, there's nothing special about being a Panther… or any other type of large feline, apparently. According to the Mascot Database (MascotDB.com), Panthers is the fourth most common nickname in all of sports, trailing other "big cat" mascots Tigers and Wildcats, as well as Eagles. We also share the Panthers with no fewer than eight other NCAA Division I schools.
Meanwhile, there are currently no Division I schools whose teams are known as the Gulls.
Knowing that marketing and having a unique brand are more important than ever in the modern college sports landscape… things that have been a habitual problem at Milwaukee, and have prevented the athletic department from becoming a true asset to the university… wouldn't it make sense to ditch our increasingly dated oval-panther logos and do something bold by re-adopting the Gulls as our official nickname?
Some of the things the best collegiate identities (Tar Heels, Longhorns, Gophers, Buckeyes, and yes, even Badgers) all have in common is that they're unique enough to free-associate with a single school, and usually tell you something about the local area, if not the campus itself.
Gulls were originally chosen to represent Milwaukee State because when students would return to campus in the fall, they were usually greeted by dozens of actual gulls from Lake Michigan who came to feed on the football field (where Curtin Hall currently sits).
Certainly an identity that has actual origins on our campus is preferable to one like Panthers, which was chosen in 1964 from a random pool of equally generic potential nicknames, such as Hawks and Cardinals.
Perhaps the best part about re-adopting the Gulls identity is that it's not just an appropriate symbol for our athletic program, but the entire university. You could even say it's more relevant now than it was originally.
The gull is a decidedly urban species of marine bird that makes its home near the waterfronts of large cities. You'd be hard pressed to find a better symbol for an urban university near a Great Lake that has become a major center for freshwater research, and opened up the world's first School of Freshwater Studies.
Note that I am not suggesting a return to the Green Gulls. Green has since become the color of our rival to the north, the Green Bay Phoenix, and there's no need to replace all of the black, gold, and white on campus… especially not when real, live gulls tend to actually have white and black feathers, with golden feet and beaks.
I love Pounce as much as anyone. I even own a couple sweatshirts with him on them. But it makes us look small-time and unimportant to have such a generic identity like Panthers. That may have been fine when UWM was still a commuter school, but anyone whose the least bit familiar with what the university has been doing over the past decade knows those days are long gone.
With a brand new student union on the way, perhaps its time to finally adopt a unique symbol for what has become our unique university… GO GULLS GO!
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Post by jnut on May 6, 2013 10:44:19 GMT -6
I, for one, would support the change for going back to the Gulls.
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Post by DunneDeal on May 6, 2013 14:10:19 GMT -6
Pantherholic only hates it cause Gullaholic sounds bad. I think it would be hard pressed for this school to press for a mascot change, and if you say we want to change it to the Gulls, some group will get together and push for Admiral Ackbar like they did at Ole Miss Had to add it  |
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Post by illwauk on May 6, 2013 14:48:51 GMT -6
FIU ditched their Sun Blazers nickname for Golden Panthers in 1987, and as far as I know, there's no contingent of students/alumni pushing for a return to the latter (although I wish there were... Sun Blazers is an awesome name!). Same with Oakland when they became the Golden Grizzlies when they jumped to D1 in 1997... no one at OU is pining for them to become the Pioneers again.
The examples you see with Ole Miss, Marquette, Illinois, etc; happen because of the perception (real or otherwise) that the identity changes were about politics. That's not the case here... this is about abandoning a generic, unmarketable identity for one that actually has a legit connection to the Milwaukee campus and its history. If anything, this is the exact opposite of what happened at Ole Miss.
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mwu
Sophomore
I am U-Dub U-M
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Post by mwu on May 6, 2013 16:14:51 GMT -6
 Back to the topic at hand... I'd rather see our guys play outside in Cathedral Square than suffer another year in Klotsche. |
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Post by Super King on May 6, 2013 16:18:51 GMT -6
Also would like to point out that there was a stable of op-ed contributors who proposed their own week-to-week ideas to the Post and email submissions were almost never published as a result. Carry on.
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Post by illwauk on May 12, 2013 13:18:01 GMT -6
Well this thread has certainly livened up since we brought that useless branding discussion to a halt.............
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mwu
Sophomore
I am U-Dub U-M
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Post by mwu on May 13, 2013 8:46:39 GMT -6
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