Sure we all enjoy the friendly trash talk that ensues with any sports activity, particularly at the level of college football, but sometimes people can go a little too far.
Earlier this week Oklahoma State University published an article about this week’s upcoming game with the title ‘Cowboys Look To Avoid Raider Rash.’ Now for those of you who don’t know, Raider Rash is a reference to sexually transmitted diseases at Texas Tech in relation to the statistics of our host city. Lubbock County ranked 11th out of 254 Texas counties and eighth city in Texas for STDs.
The issue at this moment isn’t that we have an obvious problem with sex education in this town, the problem here is that a college newspaper thought it appropriate to joke about STDs and label an entire football team, and by extension its fans and community, with said STD.
As a proud Red Raider I was personally offended by the title. I attempted to find the article online but it was neither on the homepage nor the sports page of the online version of ‘The Daily O’Collegian.’ As a journalist I was still offended. Working behind a desk grasping at air for readers to a college newspaper I can imagine is hard, particularly since the newspaper industry is a dying one, but it is not OK to attract readers with such an offensive and tasteless title. Working online and in newspaper is the same business when it comes to titles. You think and think about the perfect title that is going to get someone to click on your article or pick up that newspaper. Clearly whoever approved this title lost too many brain cells in the process.
Luke Cotton, president of Student Government Association, wasn’t too happy about the title either.
“As the student body president it requires me to focus on the interests of our students here at Texas Tech. It is an unfortunate article, but I would like the students to remain focused on supporting our team and maintaining our home field advantage, rather than calling our visitors silly names,” Cotton said in a statement via email.
“I have no doubt that our West Texas hospitality and competitive drive will shine through this weekend,” Cotton said.
Cotton is right, we should stay focused on the game. While OSU is out beating their brains to come up with offensive titles, Texas Tech will walk away with the win.
What do you think about the title? Do you find it offensive? Let us know in the comments below.
About Claudia Tristán
Its actually funny……