Why are teams named the Trojans?

[RickV]

I may be completely off-base here, but the feeling I get is that the Trojans were the honorable ones (or at least more so), and the Greeks had to cheat to win.

Yeah, except for Paris stealing Helen to start the damn war, the Trojans were very honorable. (tongue in cheek)

[Tomcat7742]

My old high school (Lake Taylor), their mascot is the Titan. I think it's one of the best and one of the most under used names out there.

- Chris

[boomersooner82]

The movie Troy more or less assumed this perspective.

The downside with using the movie Troy as a reference is that it is totally inaccuruate to the epic that Homer wrote. Example 1: Agamemnon was not killed at Troy but by his wife and cousin after the battle of Troy.

Just a little classics lesson for ya.

[Slickster]

And what about other great warrior peoples?  The  Saxons, Normans, etc.  are either not used at all or rarely used.

Alfred University in Alfred, NY.

[Wingz017]

Better than the beavers

[Phil]

The movie Troy more or less assumed this perspective.

The downside with using the movie Troy as a reference is that it is totally inaccuruate to the epic that Homer wrote. Example 1: Agamemnon was not killed at Troy but by his wife and cousin after the battle of Troy.

Just a little classics lesson for ya.

Technically, I did not use the movie as a reference at all, but as a pop-culture example of my point.

...and yes, I realize from a historical perspective, the movie had several factual inaccuracies.

[KCScout76]

When I took my first teaching job in Carrollton, Missouri, I asked a friend what the mascot for the high school was (he attended a rival school - Richmond, MO) and he told me they were the 'fighting condoms'.

Being pretty dumb - I said 'you got to be kidding', and he gave me he**. I still laugh about it - the Carrollton Trojans.

[sacker12]

Whenever a fan from the opposing team posts on our fan boards, they always refer to us as the "Condoms". South Carolina (Gamecocks) really let us have it the past two years that we were there.

[sacker12]

Also, Troy, or Troy State as we were known back then, adopted the "Trojans" nickname back in either the 70's or 80's. Our previous names were "Bulldogs", "Teachers", and "Red Wave". The "Teachers" nickname came from when the school was still the Alabama Teacher's College. (or something like that). After that school name came Troy State College, then Troy State University, and now Troy University.

[gordie_delini]

The Trojans are also significant in that they are the ancestors of the Romans - Aeneas (second in command of the Trojans to Hector) led the remaining Trojans away from Troy as the Greeks sacked and burned it. He led his band on a long journey (not unlike Odyssius in the Odyssey) and landed in what was called Latium. Aeneas married the Latian queen (Latium - Latin - get it?) and had two sons - Romulus and Remus. Unfortunately their parents both died before just after they were born and the two brothers were lost in the woods. They were raised by a wolf, and both went on to found Rome. But in doing so Romulus ended up killing Remus because of Remus' jealousy for his brother (for what reason, I can't recall). Anyway, Romulus' name is the foundation for the name Rome, founded in BC 756. So there you have it - destitute Trojans find Italy, conquer and intermarry with the Latians and go on to found Rome - and then conquer the known world and rule it for the next 600 years. Hence, why teams name themselves the Trojans.

Helps having a history major work in sports design, eh?