A little more respect...

Maybe I am just old fashion but can people please stop referring to Coach Lavin as"Lav", "Lavs" or any other shortened verson of his name. Its Coach or Coach Lavin.


Coach Lavin has worked long and hard to be a Division I head coach and has earned the respect of every fan out there to at least speak about him in the right manner. If you had the privledge of meeting the man, would you say "Hey Lavs, nice to meet you"?

Maybe I am just old fashion but can people please stop referring to Coach Lavin as"Lav", "Lavs" or any other shortened verson of his name. Its Coach or Coach Lavin.


Coach Lavin has worked long and hard to be a Division I head coach and has earned the respect of every fan out there to at least speak about him in the right manner. If you had the privledge of meeting the man, would you say "Hey Lavs, nice to meet you"?

But to be fair I know a lot of people within the University that call him that.  People have nicknames and I mean it is a message board and people look to save some keystrokes.  I don't think its insulting really. 

Kind of reminds me of Redmen.com when there was a hubbub about people calling Father Harrington, Harrington.  Granted he's a priest and that was thought to be on a different level.

i'm also old fashioned.  enough that i'm an old timer who still calls my elders mr. and mrs.  growing up, i wouldn't have dreamed of calling an elder by their first name.  younger generations grew up calling us by our first names.  i'm used to it. 

i don't like "lavs", etc because it implies a familiarity that really doesn't exist except in the mind of the writer.

PMG, normally I am on your side, but aren't there tons of people on this board that refer to Coach Carnesecca as Lou rather than Coach or Coach Carnesecca?

I am positive those people do not do so out of disrespect, just as I am sure "Lav" is not used out of a lack of respect.

Maybe I am just old fashion but can people please stop referring to Coach Lavin as"Lav", "Lavs" or any other shortened verson of his name. Its Coach or Coach Lavin.


Coach Lavin has worked long and hard to be a Division I head coach and has earned the respect of every fan out there to at least speak about him in the right manner. If you had the privledge of meeting the man, would you say "Hey Lavs, nice to meet you"?

Personally have no problem with "Lavs" - that IS what he was known as for a over a decade at UCLA, by players, fans, even broadcasters - both while as an assistant as well as head coach.  That's how many of his ESPN peers referred to him during his 8 years out of coch - "Coach Lavs" or simply Lavs.   To me it indicates a level of affection toward the coach from the person using the term.   

I do have a problem with those that simply refer to him as "Lavin"  - it just sounds disrespectful, as if the intent is to diminish the subject in some way.  It's much the same way hearing reporters refer to simply "Clinton" or "Bush" or "Obama" when refering to one of the last 4 presidents grates on me.   I think it's disrespectful to the Office, no matter what I may personally think of the person holding the office.  But a basketball coach is a shade different than POTUS, so I have no problem with a reference to Lavs or Steve or for that matter seeing  Looie referred to on these boards -  Lavs = Okay.  Steve/Looie = Okay.   coach Lavin/coach Carnaseca = good.   Lavin/Carnaseca = not so much....

I think this is a valid point PMG.   

I think Moose is right that no one means any disrespect out of it, just like anyone who refers to our Hall of Fame coach as "Louie", mean's no disrespect either.   It's a celebratory nickname for a public figure. 


But - your point is a valid one.  I don't think this is a terrible epidemic, but in the future my posts will reflect those values you speak of. 

 No one brought this up when we had Coach Roberts? 

Quote from: pmg911 on July 09, 2012, 09:44:42 AM

Maybe I am just old fashion but can people please stop referring to Coach Lavin as"Lav", "Lavs" or any other shortened verson of his name. Its Coach or Coach Lavin.


Coach Lavin has worked long and hard to be a Division I head coach and has earned the respect of every fan out there to at least speak about him in the right manner. If you had the privledge of meeting the man, would you say "Hey Lavs, nice to meet you"?

Personally have no problem with "Lavs" - that IS what he was known as for a over a decade at UCLA, by players, fans, even broadcasters - both while as an assistant as well as head coach.  That's how many of his ESPN peers referred to him during his 8 years out of coch - "Coach Lavs" or simply Lavs.   To me it indicates a level of affection toward the coach from the person using the term.   

I do have a problem with those that simply refer to him as "Lavin"  - it just sounds disrespectful, as if the intent is to diminish the subject in some way.  It's much the same way hearing reporters refer to simply "Clinton" or "Bush" or "Obama" when refering to one of the last 4 presidents grates on me.   I think it's disrespectful to the Office, no matter what I may personally think of the person holding the office.  But a basketball coach is a shade different than POTUS, so I have no problem with a reference to Lavs or Steve or for that matter seeing  Looie referred to on these boards -  Lavs = Okay.  Steve/Looie = Okay.   coach Lavin/coach Carnaseca = good.   Lavin/Carnaseca = not so much....

That is also an excellent point CR, and reminds me of the infamous "Hey Knight" incident years back with Bob Knight.    I think there's also a significant difference between speaking online about someone, and addressing a person to their face.   I doubt any of us would say "what's up" to "Cashman", "Coughlin" or "Rex" ... the polite thing to do would of course be to say hello to Mr Cashman, Coach Ryan, Coach Woodson, Coach Coughlin etc.   When speaking to anyone you don't know, it's nice to use their title.    But when speaking about them online?   Eh, I can see why some would drop the title.

Nevertheless it's not a bad idea to be slightly more formal.   And I agree with both PMG and CR that certain references can be offensive.
Again, not an epidemic or critical problem, but formality wouldn't kill some of us.

No one brought this up when we had Coach Roberts? 

He was a coach?

Please, I never heard anything like this when Little Louie was here winning 526 games.  Let's move on.

Please, I never heard anything like this when Little Louie was here winning 526 games.  Let's move on.

Agree, rediculous.

When things get serious, I put my hand on his shoulder and say, "Steve...."

That all right?

When things get serious, I put my hand on his shoulder and say, "Steve...."

That all right?

Steven only Choz! Lol

While we're at it, when referring to me, its Mr. Baldi from now on

While we're at it, when referring to me, its Mr. Baldi from now on

I prefer to call you Mrs. Cluess...

Quote from: Marco Baldi on July 09, 2012, 01:02:11 PM

While we're at it, when referring to me, its Mr. Baldi from now on

I prefer to call you Mrs. Cluess...

  Clueless is more like it.....

If only I'd thought to write a long and hilarious post about this very subject in June. Oh wait I did.

<excerpt>

I notice that posters like to use cute little names to refer to the players and staff, I think because it conveys a feeling of intimacy, like when you refer to you SO (significant other) as "toots" or "sugar britches." EG (for example) a lot of people call the coach "Lavs," which like many things people do really sets my teeth on edge. I mean, LAVS is one letter shorter than LAVIN, and LAVIN is only 5 letters anyway. Its not like his name is North Atlantic Treaty Organization and you're calling him NATO because you CBA (can't be arsed) to type the whole thing out. D'lo for D'angelo Harrison is another people use, which at least is significantly shorter. So anyway long story short I came up with some nicknames for the players and am hoping that they become common parlance.

Phil "It Ain't Easy Being" Greene

God's Gift "Gazundheit" Achiuwa

D'Angelo "Barksdale" Harrison

Dominic "Please Don't Shoot a Three" Pointer

Amir "Bag of Shells" Garrett

Chris "P Cream" Obekpa

Darrick "Morning" Wood

Felix "the Cat" Balamou

Jamal "Bourbon and" Branch

Orlando "Dirty" Sanchez

Marco "Baldi" Bourgault

Jakarr "54 Where Are You" Sampson

</excerpt>

If only I'd thought to write a long and hilarious post about this very subject in June. Oh wait I did.

<excerpt>

I notice that posters like to use cute little names to refer to the players and staff, I think because it conveys a feeling of intimacy, like when you refer to you SO (significant other) as "toots" or "sugar britches." EG (for example) a lot of people call the coach "Lavs," which like many things people do really sets my teeth on edge. I mean, LAVS is one letter shorter than LAVIN, and LAVIN is only 5 letters anyway. Its not like his name is North Atlantic Treaty Organization and you're calling him NATO because you CBA (can't be arsed) to type the whole thing out. D'lo for D'angelo Harrison is another people use, which at least is significantly shorter. So anyway long story short I came up with some nicknames for the players and am hoping that they become common parlance.

Phil "It Ain't Easy Being" Greene

God's Gift "Gazundheit" Achiuwa

D'Angelo "Barksdale" Harrison

Dominic "Please Don't Shoot a Three" Pointer

Amir "Bag of Shells" Garrett

Chris "P Cream" Obekpa

Darrick "Morning" Wood

Felix "the Cat" Balamou

Jamal "Bourbon and" Branch

Orlando "Dirty" Sanchez

Marco "Baldi" Bourgault

Jakarr "54 Where Are You" Sampson

</excerpt>

As usual, a very funny and witty post Foad, but would you conisder your reference to Lavin as TGAPL the equivalent to "sugar britches"?   

Is this really necessary? Of course nobody is going to call him Lavs to his face. Who cares if people shorten his name on a message board? Is it also disrespectful to call the Duke coach with the funny last name Coach K?

As usual, a very funny and witty post Foad, but would you conisder your reference to Lavin as TGAPL the equivalent to "sugar britches"?

No. TGAPL pokes fun at his acolytes. And anyway Lavs is more of a sweet cheeks.