FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I was riding with a couple of radio announcers to a recent high school football game and the topic of Newberry College in South Carolina having to change their nickname came up.  Newberry has had the nickname "Indians" for a very long time, but due to the NCAA saying all schools must change any references to Native Americans without approval of an Indian tribe, they must change the logos and names.  Newberry is faced with covering up their spear logo on their helmets and everything with the word Indian on it.  Right now, Newberry is a college without a nickname.   

Newberry is a great small town in South Carolina about half way between Columbia and Spartanburg on I-26 and was settled by Germans.   We kicked the idea around of what would be a good nickname that could reflect the heritage of Newberry.  Jokingly the name "Bratwurst" came up.  The Newberry Bratwurst you ask.  Why not we say.  There's a town in Indiana called Frankfort whose high school's nickname is the Hot Dogs.  In fact, if you go to their website, the opening line is "Frankfort, Indiana, the home of the Hot Dogs."  Speedway, Indiana High School is the home of the Sparkplugs to commenorate the towns history with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  So why couldn't Newberry College be name the Bratwursts?  The more we discussed it, the more sense it began to make.

We began to discuss logos and colors for the Brats.  A Brat on the side of the helmet.  Perhaps a pewter color or bronz.  Since Newberry already has some red in their scheme, change it just a little to a burgundy.  

We came up with a large list of marketing opportunities.  A grocery story could be official supermarket of the Brats where you can get a package of bratwursts for your pre game tailgate party.  The cheerleaders would wear costumes similiar to German beer maids.  The marching band would play some German Oohmpa type of music.  A beer company would jump at the chance to sponsor something with the Brats.  What goes better with a brat than a cold beer?        T-shirts and bumper stickers that could read, "Our Brawts Are Hot"  "Either You're A Brawt, Or You're Not."  If the defense is a smothering shut down defense you could call them the "Sauekraut" because they are all over the opponent's offense.  Announcers and newspaper guys could describe a Newberry pass that was hard to handle as "That Bratwurst pass had just a tad too much mustard on it."  Instead of Green Bay Packer Cheesehead hats, you could have fans wearing a Bratwurst Hat.  Newberry would have a chance to recruit more from Wisconsin, where Brats are king. 

As Newberry College contemplates what to do, let me be first to begin the chant, "Let's Go Brawts....Let's Go Brawts"