The U.S. Naval Academy’s football team is looking to avoid any controversies this year by ditching its “Load the Clip” motto and replacing it with “Win the Day.”
Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Admiral Sean S. Buck released a statement Friday saying the motto “missed the mark” and needed to be changed.
The decision preceded a weekend in which a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, took 22 lives and another in Dayton, Ohio claimed nine others.
“The initial internal football team motto selected, ’Load the Clip,’ was inappropriate and insensitive to the community we call home, and for that, I take responsibility,” the officer said, Capital Gazette reported.
An apology was also given to the Capital Gazette, which endured its own shooting last year when a gunman killed five people inside the Annapolis newsroom.
“Our coaches and midshipmen realized that the direction they were headed created sensitivities that were not aligned with the original intent,” Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk said in a statement.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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