(09-05-2012 11:32 AM)arkstfan Wrote: I avoid UL simply because anytime I hear UL I think Louisville.
That's why I use Louisiana most of the time.
Is there any confusion with the following:
UT - Texas and Tennessee (and both orange)
OSU - OK State and Oregon State (and both orange & black)
ASU - Arizona State, Arkansas State, Appalacian State
UM - Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana
SC - Southern Cal and South Carolina
Yet, when it comes to UL, there is this great confusion with Louisville who does not even use UL. Louisville uses an Old English "L" and refers to itself as U of L. But, even if it did call itself UL, so what? It is not a problem for the schools mentioned above. They just maintain their own identity and it doesn't matter what other schools choose to call themselves. Is Arkansas State impacted by Arizona State and App State using ASU? I don't think so.
When it comes to official names, the university academically is the only one required to use the official reference. No one outside of the university is under a mandate. Texas ALWAYS refers to itself as the University of Texas at Austin, except athletically where it is Texas or UT. Most universities NEVER go by their official name, yet no one seems to have a problem with them:
Cal State Fresno - Fresno State
Texas at Austin - Texas
Nebraska Lincoln - Nebraska
Minnesota Twin Cities - Minnesota
Wisconsin Madison - Wisconsin
LSU A&M at Baton Rouge - LSU
Georgia Institute of Technology - Georgia Tech (not GIT)
etc., etc.
Anyone can call us by any name it chooses to. Sports Illustrated agreed to simply call us by what we ask to be called, Louisiana. UL Monroe chose to brand itself as ULM. So, if anyone chooses to call them what they ask and NOT call us what we ask, then it is a personal issue that person has with our university because they don't do it with anyone else. Any legal issues regarding a name pertain ONLY to the university's use and no one elses.
Wouldn't the SunBelt have a better image with references similar to other conferences:
Cal & UCLA
Nevada & UNLV
Texas & UTEP
Alabama & UAB
Arkansas & UALR
Louisiana & ULM
This doesn't seem to hurt the universities with the acronym, so why should it hurt ULM if we are UL or Louisiana. UCLA didn't worry about Cal's name, it just built itself into one of the top academic universities in the country regardless of what Cal does and it works for them. Why doesn't ULM take that same approach?
Louisiana and UL are being accepted more and more every week around the country by universities, conferences, and media. Why not just accept it, embrace it, let the conference be better for it and let's quit making this such an issue every time it comes up?
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