Critics are urging MSU sports officials to change the name of “The Cold War” before Saturday’s record-breaking outdoor matchup. They say the name is a cruel and insensitive gimmick that does not properly take into account the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last month.
A column in The Ann Arbor News made the claim that MSU’s slogan is “unbelievably inappropriate and distasteful.”
Coach Ron Mason said he thought the slogan was “ingenious” at the time officials thought it up. It still is.
This is just another item in a wave of overreacting individuals who feel everybody needs to be protected from simple words. Anything involving conflict, war, attacks or struggles have become dirty words.
Football commentators have refrained from using terms that carry militaristic connotation - such as “blitz” or “long bomb” - and some radio stations have received lists of suggested songs that may offend some people.
MSU hockey does not need to join in this trend. “The Cold War” is a creative name which cleverly brings up the friendly rivalry between the two universities, as well as bringing the sport into the name. It has also been used as a very smart marketing tool since the game was announced last June.
Changing the name now would do very little. The name has become ingrained in people’s minds, and changing it a week before the game would not change that image.
But the bottom line is, it’s really not an alarming name.
It has nothing to do with terrorism, explosions, airliners or injury. Perhaps if the game was called something like “Terror on Ice” or “Frozen Explosion” we’d have a different opinion.
If it were the 1970s or 1980s, and we actually lived with the threat of the Soviet Union sending bombs down on our heads, and Leonid Brezhnev was the bad guy, maybe there would be something more to consider. The game likely wouldn’t have even received the name in that era.
But as it stands now, “The Cold War” is nothing more than a clever nickname for a big-time event for both universities. Fans are excited to take part in the largest-attended outdoor hockey game in history.
The name works fine in our day and time. What would be inappropriate is letting terrorism make us afraid enough to change the way we live, because that is exactly what they want.
It can’t be what we give them.
