ESCARGOTS? EELS? EWOKS?
The `Escs' look for a new name
“We're cheering, `Fight, fight, fight on, Escargots.'
“We're marching right, right, right on Escargots.
“We're charging down the field for all to see.
“We're shouting, `Rah, rah, rah, on to victory.'
“We're fighting on until every game is won.
“The green and gold is all that when we're done.
“We'll tell the world we're proud of Edmonton.
“And the Edmonton Escargots!”
So the fight song Peggy Miller wrote for the team in 1954 could still work.
And we wouldn't have heard the last of the famous chants in Commonwealth Stadium.
“Go, Escs, go!”
It was the closing day for submissions Tuesday for a new name to replace Eskimos.
The leaderboard?
1. Eagles
2. Energy
3. Elk or Elks
4. Elite
5. Empire
6. Edge
7. Express
8. Extreme
9. Explorers
10. 10. Evolution
But don't throw out the other submissions. Gathering them was the purpose of the exercise.
So how do you feel about Extraterrestrials, Elephants, Elite, Elixir. Empire, Emojis, Extinguishers, beers, Eh?, Eels: “It uses the double E and `Get Electric' is the new slogan.”
There were cases made for Ewoks, Ewes, Expos, Electros, JOEES (after Joey Moss), Edmonton EE, GREEN Golds and Edmontonsaurus. Oh, and yes, there were 15 fans that wanted Escargots, one of whom made the following case:
“We would be the mighty snails but with a French twist. Snails are tough, they survive in a variety of circumstances, they stick with everything they put their minds to and they are awesome. I have pitched this name to many of my friends. At first they giggle but they say, `That's not bad.'”
In all, there were 13,015 suggestions by noon Tuesday, including some from Inuvik, Dawson City, Yellowknife and Nunavut. Some came from Australia, Thailand, Norway, Hong Kong, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Americans contributed from Colorado, Connecticut, California, New York, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, Washington, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oregon and Montana.
While there were suggestions from throughout Canada and especially from CFL markets, most of them were predominantly from northern Alberta.
It wasn't a “name the team” contest, the esks.com website states.
“The EE Football Team isn't our `forever' name, and we're working on it. Take part in the next step in our journey and help us to usher in the next era in club history. We want to make sure the community is involved and the suggestions are seen and read appropriately.”
The website said they're at the spitballing stage of selecting a new moniker for the CFL franchise that has played in and won more Grey Cup games than any other team since forming in 1949.
“If you have a name suggestion, enter it. If you have an explanation, please add it. We're reading all the feedback and are taking all the options into consideration.
“As a heads up, submitting your suggestion will not result in any payment, retention of rights to your suggestion or qualify the respondent, their friends, family, pets or relatives from Saskatchewan for royalties or future rights for royalties or future rights for the submission contents should it be chosen or used in any way.”
Which is too bad. Because it was decades ago, in a fanciful column on maybe one day having to do the unthinkable and change the proudly carried team nickname that I proposed Escargots as the next team name.
“From here, we will summarize the information and share it with our agency and begin to build a framework for our brand convictions,” said chief executive Chris Presson. “This part of the process has been fun, interesting and enlightening. Everyone seemed to have fun with it and some even contributed some artwork, as well.”
Nobody did so for the Edmonton Escargots. And creating a mascot might be a challenge.
But a lot of people would pay good money to witness Bryan Hall singing, “Fight, fight, fight on Escargots!” after the third quarter.