Legal Commentary

Eugene's post about piracy repeatedly makes the point about the heinousness and seriousness of piracy as a crime, which is lost in the mythos of eye patches and bottles of rum and parrots.

So that led me to wonder, in only half-seriousness (maybe only 37 % seriousness), whether pirate nicknames for sports team have become inappropriate. Obviously they are not racially or ethnically charged or offensive, so people are not going to get worked up about this. Still, it does refer to a class of anti-social people who commit what are widely regarded as crimes against the entire world. Isn't calling your team "Pirates" equivalent to calling it "Hijackers" or "Guerillas" or "Terrorists"? Or at the very least "Armed Robbers"?