Shawnee Mission West's online student newspaper

smwest.com

Shawnee Mission West's online student newspaper

smwest.com

Shawnee Mission West's online student newspaper

smwest.com

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photo by Malcom Luna

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The Nordic Nasties

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Winter has arrived, and thus basketball has as well. Once or twice a week a countless number fans pack into a gym and want nothing more than to see their team pull out a victory.

There are two things you can count on once you enter the gym: cheering fans and a great time. At least that’s what was thought anyways. Now a day with negative attention towards fans, the second constant really is in jeopardy.

As we climb up onto the bleachers a little bit of fear has begun to come upon us.  In the past a game was a place to get rowdy, a place to cheer on your team and not expect to be punished for it. This season though, even just a few games in, things are looking different. Case and point: The Nasties.

The Nasties are a group of senior boys who created shirts with one letter for each person spelling out the word “nasties.” According to administration the words are disrespectful, and portray our teams as a nasty team. We can understand why they would think that initially, but there is more to this story and by no means is this group trying to be disrespectful.

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The name comes from the “Nordic Nasties,” a slogan that the basketball program has used for many years to describe our fans. The name is a play off of the “Cameron Crazies,” the well-known super fans at Duke University. It is simply alliteration, that’s it and that’s all. The term “Nordic Nasties,” is even on the sixth man shirts this year, which are being sold by the basketball program.

So, trying to be creative, the senior boys took this slogan and made these new shirts. By no means did they have any ulterior motives; they essentially were just making the same shirts on a larger scale.

So the question arises: why are there such negative thoughts on these shirts?

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The Nordic Nasties