Tuesday, October 14

King Louie

I hereby command everyone to not misunderstand me.

Utah has a very good kicker named Louie Sakoda. He does both their punting and their place kicking, and he is better than average at both. But people (fans?) have taken lately to calling him "King Louie" and that's where it starts getting weird. I don't know about the rest of you, but when I hear "King Louie" I think of the Jungle Book, and the orangutan named King Louie. It doesn't make me think of any kings of France because it isn't followed by a number, and besides, they spelled their names Louis, not Louie.


Now, I generally frown on the over-sensitivity of some people over things like this, but we must separate out how the world ought to be, from how it really is. In a perfect world, you could give Louie Sakoda the title of "king" because you think he's the best kicker around, and it would be ok, because we would all know that you're not implying anything else. But, it seems potentially problematic to give someone a nickname that is going to cause some people to think that you've named him after a big monkey. (So my sister doesn't have to clarify, orangutans aren't monkeys, they're apes, but again this isn't about what is true, it's about what people think.)

To sum it up: I don't have a real opinion on Sakoda. He's a good player, and I've never heard of him doing anything stupid or jerk-like, so I assume he's a decent person. I'm not accusing those supporting the King Louie nickname of anything at all, but if it were me, I'd think twice before naming a person after an ape.

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