School drops Cougars as team name because it might offend women
By
Geoff Herbert | [email protected]
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on January 19, 2012 at 3:02 PM, updated January 19, 2012 at 3:11 PM
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The Associated PressBoard members rejected the team "cougars" for a new high school in Utah because the name might be seen as offensive to middle-aged women.
Corner Canyon High School hasn't even opened yet, and it's already facing controversy.
The new school, scheduled to open in 2013 in Draper, Utah, announced this week that it had chosen its mascot and school colors.
According to
KSTU-TV Fox 13, future students within the school's boundaries were mailed ballots to vote for the sports teams' colors and mascot. The colors navy, silver and white were selected and the Charger was named the mascot -- the first in Utah to use it.
The Chargers wasn't the most popular team name with the kids. Instead, the top name was the Cougars, getting 23 percent of the votes. Other choices included the Chargers, Diamondbacks, Falcons, Raptors, Broncos, Bears and Cavaliers.
But the Cougar was rejected as the mascot because board members decided it might be seen as offensive to middle-aged women.
As pointed out on TV shows like Courteney Cox's "Cougar Town" and Tina Fey's "30 Rock" (one episode titled "
Cougars" featured the 41-year-old Fey going on a date with a 20-year-old), the term has become popularly known to describe an older woman who dates younger men. Even online dating websites have popped up specifically for the "cougar" crowd, connecting interested males with females that are 15-30 years their senior.
There are, of course, other teams that already use the team name Cougars, including three other high schools in the state. As
Prep Rally points out, even Utah's biggest college, Brigham Young University, uses the animal as its mascot which is probably why so many kids voted for it.
But those teams existed before the term "cougar" had its place in popular culture and it became more common for stars like Demi Moore to date someone half her age, such as her ex-husband Ashton Kutcher. Back then, a cougar was just a fierce animal also referred to as a puma or mountain lion.
So did the school board need to worry about its teams being associated with the new connotation?
"Sensitivity and political correctness regarding the names of athletic teams has officially reached a ridiculous peak,"
USA Today wrote.
What do you think? Is Cougars an offensive name for a team?
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