A Sea Of Red

we're 89th (and surprised we did THAT well)

the guy is funny and pretty accurate as well!

http://www.i-aa.org/article.asp?articleid=80287

#89: Liberty (33.87)

Conference: Big South

The CFI shows: There is a definite “Big South Bonus” in the CFI, even though it wasn’t by design. Granted, anyone who has Charleston Southern in your conference would get a comparative boost, making Liberty (comparatively speaking) the Montana of the Big South. (Well, maybe I got a bit carried away -- more like the Weber State of the Big South.)
How to improve: President Jerry Fallwell has said he wants his Lynchburg, VA school to someday compete in I-A. Well, Jerry, not only would your I-A case be bolstered if attendance at games were higher than 50% of Williams Stadium’s capacity (12,000), your CFI would improve too.

Upshot: Isn’t it strange that a school run by Mr. Falwell should have the nickname of his school be the “Flames” – more indicative of where you go in the afterlife when you’ve been bad? Maybe a different name – perhaps, the “Crusaders” – would have been the ironic twist that would have put Liberty higher. (That, or else a move to Boiling Springs, NC.)

I like the Crusaders name. To me it seems more and more people are saying stuff about the Flames name this year than normal. I don't mind it, as long as we use the eagle.

Holy Cross also uses the Crusaders:

The Crusaders would carry a horrible connotation.

Jihad!

I agree completely, Tally. I know Tennesse Temple has used that nickname for years as well.

For the record, this guy who did the rankings claims to use message boards as part of his measurement of fan interest. Something tells me he's never been to FlameFans before.

Hmmm. Flames or Crusaders?

Let's examine this:

"Crusaders" -- a term applied to those knights who took part in the Crusades in medieval Europe.

The 1st Crusade set out in 1095 w/ 7,000 knights to recapture the city of Jerusalem for Christianity. In 1099, the 1,500 that remained captured the Holy City and massacred the population. As a result of this crusade, a number of "Crusader states" were set up in the Middle East. Which led to...

The 2nd Crusade set out in 1147 to re-take the Crusader state of Edessa which had been captured by the Turks. They fought a lot but accomplished nothing and, by 1149, everyone had gone home.

In 1187, the 3rd Crusade began with the purpose of re-capturing the Holy Land from Saladin, the legendary Muslim conqueror. This crusade was somewhat successful until the Crusaders ran out of food and water and were forced to stop fighting within sight of Jerusalem.

The 4th Crusade was sent out in 1202, again with the intended purpose of invading the Holy Land, this time through Egypt. Through various political machinations, the Crusader armies were diverted into attacking Constantinople, seat of the Byzantine Empire, and Zara, another Christian city in modern-day Croatia. Then, they went home.

The Albigensian Crusade was launched in 1209, this time against a group of heretics in what is now southern France. The town of Beziers was captured and the papal legate on hand was reportedly asked how the Crusaders were to determine which of the townsfolk were heretics and which were ordinary citizens. He replied, "Kill them all, for the Lord knows who are his own." Much of Bezier's population was butchered. The crusade continued until 1229 when the entire area came under the control of France. This crusade gave rise to the Inquisition.

The Children's Crusade of 1212, which may or may not have actually happened, featured 20,000 children marching off to once again re-take the Holy Land. All of them either settled along the way, were sold into slavery or otherwise died without ever reaching Palestine.

The 5th Crusade in 1217 was yet another attempt to re-capture Jerusalem. There was an early impressive victory in Egypt but disease and shaky decision-making took their toll. Eventually, the Nile flooded in 1221, trapping the Crusader armies and forcing their complete surrender.

The 6th Crusade in 1228 was the first Crusade not initiated by a pope. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II succeeded in re-taking Jerusalem almost entirely through diplomacy.

The 7th Crusade left in 1248 with the stated purpose of again capturing Jerusalem which had, again, fallen into Muslim hands. Under the leadership of French king, Louis IX, the Crusaders fought in Egypt for the next 6 years suffering setbacks and starvation but not outright defeat. In 1254, the money ran out and Louis returned home.

The 8th Crusade was launched in 1270, again under the leadership of Louis IX. Louis made the decision to first attack Tunis and use it as a base for attacking Egypt. His armies landed in July and promptly got sick due to poor drinking water. By October, Louis himself had died and nearly everyone went home. That is, everyone except for...

Louis' sidekick Prince Edward I of England and the 9th Crusade. He took his forces from Tunis and went to bail out the Crusader city of Acre in Galilee. This was the last of the independent Crusader cities that had not been captured by Muslim forces. Edward's army fought the Muslims into a stalemate, enough so that when Henry III died in 1272, Edward was able to negotiate a treaty that allowed him to return to England to be crowned king. In 1291, sectarian violence erupted in Acre which gave the Muslim Sultan a pretext for attacking the city. By the end of the year, the city was destroyed, ending the last of Crusader influence in the Middle East and ending the Crusades themselves.

To sum up: Flames are good for preparing food, heat, light, warding off bear attacks and otherwise burning stuff. Crusaders are good for dying in a great big wasted effort. I'll stick with Flames.

That was probably the best response, ever. Like I said, I don't have a problem with our names.

probably the most complete response I've ever seen. Only here can a post about our fan base turn into a history lesson about medieval crusades.

very well done LIB, as a history buff I can appreciate the effort!

i heard someone call the liberty way the "flamer way" today. thought that was pretty catchy, dont know why they didnt go with that one haha

I'll add my vote against Crusaders because of connotation. Although, all of the potential spoofs with Flames does lend itself as easy fodder for a comedy writer.

Has anyone besides the writer said they liked the crusaders?

Liberty University Fighting Irish.

I mean, we want to be Notre Dame in every respect, might as well just admit it.

What's wrong with the FIGHTING CHRISTIANS? That name is available.

Yeah I think Elon dropped the ball on that one. I thought that was a terrific name.

Yeah Sly,

I grew up in Elon's backyard and I think that was a genuine mistake because what the heck is the plural of "phoenix"? Phoenixessssss?
(of course I know that there's no plural and I know why Elon did it - they have very little if any denominational affliation with the UCC as they once did.) Of course Liberty could go with Jesus-Lovin' Butt-Kickers. (again I jest)