What to name the Marquette student section?

Photo by Ryan Messier

A few weeks back, we were tipped off that students buying basketball season tickets were asked to submit new names for the student section. The current unnamed unit is typically referred to as “The Best Student Section in the Country” at tip-off, a generally hyperbolous statement made comical when there are at most 150 kids in the seats for a December cupcake. So as a whole, I got why there would be a renaming movement, and I kept to myself. Crowd-sourcing would probably lead to something generic like Birds Nest (already the name of the student section for the soccer teams), but the athletic department has been pretty adamant about not using the chickenhawk logo, so I thought we may be spared of that embarrassment.  

However, the final choices are in, and they are as discouraging as can be imagined.

Birds of Prey: I get the eagle thing, but this seems so generic. It is also currently the name for the men’s soccer fan group…

Eagles Nest: Again, no. Heck no.

Flight Zone: If we were Dayton, I could totally see this. And I do get where they were going, you get the mascot, the sport, and the sponsor all in one without having to spell it out. Still, this is the best of a bad bunch.

Marquette Maniacs: If you have to use the school name in the title, you’re not trying hard enough.

A good student section name has to have one of the following components. A great play on words (Grateful Red), tight alliteration (Cameron Crazies), or historical significance (Izzone). Marquette Maniacs is the only one to fulfill any of those requirements, but again, it’s too bland. (MUManiacs is a tad better and could have some great Anamaniacs references, though.)

For me, the right name is fairly obvious and has been thrown out there by me and others a few times before: Al’s Army. This does rip off Sam’s Army, the US Men’s soccer team’s former supporters group, but as they have been overtaken completely by American Outlaws, I think it’s safe to put back in play.

You get sweet alliteration. You get the historical behemoth that is Al McGuire. Most of all, you get a great t-shirt opportunity, with gold and blue camo shirts to be given out. Who can say no to that.

At the end of the day, this will have zero bearing on anything Marquette basketball related, so it’s not important enough to make a stink over. But when getting a chance to set some precedent, I’d rather go with something unique and clever than generic and played out.