Lady (mascot)?

I recently became a sports editor for the first time since college, and I've been wondering something. Where do you stand on a writer referring to a high school girls team as the Lady (mascot), like the Lady Spartans or Lady Wildcats or something?

I had an editor somewhere along the line tell me to not use it because it's somewhat passé and kind of sets the girls team apart. I've had a writer use "Lady" in a couple of stories and I've edited it out, but now I'm starting to wonder why. I looked at the team's MaxPreps page, which has a team photo and "Lady Podunks" in big letters in the background. I know it's somewhat more used in college, Lady Vols, etc., but where do prep people stand on using Lady at the high school level... or am I just putting waaaaaay too much thought into this? Any feedback is appreciated.

 

I would prefer not to use it at all. They have as much right to the school nickname as the guys.

A good rule is to avoid it unless the team specifically refers to itself that way (not just if the coach or AD uses Lady here and there).

 

I would never use it, regardless if the team uses it.

 

Mostest un-PC mascot, ever:

From: http://www.kscbnews.net/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=2203&format=print

 

You'd pretty much have to if that's the nickname.

 

Depends if its the official nickname or they just call themselves that.

I'm with Ace. I wouldn't use it unless it was absolutely necessary. Plus it adds more words.

 

Friends in Western NC may remember my favorite Lady Podunks: The Cherryville Lady Ironmen.

 

I avoid it at all costs. Reading it is the visual equivalent of hearing nails on a chalk board for me.

 

Always use it, every time. It sets the teams apart for clarity. It gives them their own identity.

All of our high schools have it on their uniforms.

It's funny because the college I cover got a new SID a few years back. On his first or second day and asked myself and the radio guy if we used Lady or not. We said yes because it's their name. He said he didn't like it. We collectively told him tough shit. To this day, all his releases do not use Lady, even though the school's teams have Lady on the front of their jerseys.

 

It gives them their own identity? Do they have their own drinking fountains and lunch counters?

If the girls/women desire their own identity so much, don't you think they might go with the Podunk Unicorns instead of the Podunk Lady Bulldogs?

The uniforms may always say "Lady" because the male AD always orders them that way, you know.

 

or maybe the female coach orders them that way, you know
Tennessee has its own women's athletic department with a woman AD, so your argument doesn't wash.

What's more clear in a headline Lady Vols beat Vandy or Vols Beat Vandy? If some sees the head or teaser in the box, they know instantly which is which.

 

Seems simple enough: If they don't call themselves Lady XXXXX, then you don't call them Lady XXXXX. If they do, you do. Tenneseee is the Lady Vols and Old Dominion is the Lady Monarchs, but Connecticut is the Huskies and Texas is the Longhorns.

Aside: Should we call the pop sensation just Gaga?