It sounds like they want to be called the Lady Vols. It is a differentiating term and not a condescending one, at least in their case. They are clearly dominant and until the last couple years I'm sure they WANTED to be differentiated from the pathetic men's team.

Craig Thomas
(link...)

Back in my sportswriting days, I worked at a small paper where our sports editor banned the use of "lady" whatever when refering to girls teams (or women's teams; we mostly covered high schools). I'm not sure what we would have done if presented with a team that insisted on being called the Lady Vols or what have you.

I'm not sure what we would have done if presented with a team that insisted on being called the Lady Vols or what have you.

Or the Lady Cocks. Or Cockettes.

The mind reels.

____________________________

People getting rich. Some people saying "Markets!" More death. Neil Young. Death.

I dabble at some sportswriting -- LV basketball, sometimes HS girls, and my boss (who will probably chime in here) has an absolute BAN on the word Lady. Makes it tough to cover the Lady Vols without ever mentioning their name -- What I'm forced to do is use synonyms -- Tennessee women, women in orange, roundballers -- throughout the story.

Interestingly, I've never had a reader ask why we don't call the team by its name.

Pat Summitt and Gloria Ray came up with "Lady Vols" -- before that, they were called "Volettes." Both Pat and Gloria feel they came up with the best option, considering that among the alternatives were names like the "Vol Chicks."

Whatever the cultural significance of the "Lady" prefix, UT has done marketing research, and it's a very powerful brand. Joan Cronan told me that it's the most recognized women's athletics brand-name in the world. I don't doubt it.

Bean says: "I dabble at some sportswriting -- LV basketball, sometimes HS girls, and my boss (who will probably chime in here) has an absolute BAN on the word Lady. Makes it tough to cover the Lady Vols without ever mentioning their name -- What I'm forced to do is use synonyms -- Tennessee women, women in orange, roundballers -- throughout the story.

Interestingly, I've never had a reader ask why we don't call the team by its name."

The reason Bean's never had a comment is that her use of synonyms is tortured. I simply change them to "Tennessee" or "UT." Same way with high school. We just say "Halls" instead of "Lady Red Devils."

Nobody notices.

Now, ask me sometime how I feel about "girls" bikes. -- s.