Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Josh Murphy
I know team 66 as the Flyers. By the way why did you guys change your name 2 or 3 times, I know that the Bomb Squad had to change thiers and Truck Town Terror had to also so why you guys? 
|
Goooooood question. You see, the school didn't care much about us until AFTER we won nationals in 2002. Then they saw us as a marketing opportunity if you will for the high school and district. So the pressure came on the team from the principal and superintendent (as mentioned in the link of the first post of this thread) to change our name to the flyers, which is the standard name for any team within the high school. Consistency was the main reason.
In my humble opinion, if the board of ed and the principal at that time had any foresight, they would have seen a loss of recognition if our name was changed, and not to mention a loss of recognition of Willow Run which was more important.

They also forgot the type and size of league we are in.
And what happened? Everyone basically got confused and wondered where had all the penguins gone, from WILLOW RUN.
The name the flyers bears little to no importance unless it links to Willow Run, but the name Willow Run does, and if the penguin name connects other people's minds from across the nation and even the world to Willow Run, that is all that matters. As I stated previously, my initial idea is
not to change our name from the flyers to the penguins because I can see there's a growing number of people who recognize us as the flyers, which is awesome. We just need a mascot, and reviving the penguin would probably be the best option, because its name bears some great history. Plus it would boost the team spirit a bit.
And why mention it here? I need some support if I am to try and convince my coach, my principal, and possibly the school board, that the penguin needs to return, just as a mascot. Even though statistically speaking the flyers name dominates, there is still a good chunk of those polled who know us as the penguins. In politics, the penguin would be dead, but since FIRST stuff is more closely tied to economics and marketing than anything, that chunk is seen as opportunity. That is something I would need to stress to those I need to convince.
BTW: The first change in names, from the meddling kids to the penguins, was pretty much a result of Ypsilanti and Willow Run becoming independent teams.