Petition calls for Arizona State to change nickname from Sun Devils to Sun Angels

Earlier this week, Arizona State University fans sounded off on their school's mascot, Sparky the Sun Devil, being included in a list of the "most-offensive" college mascots.

If they were so riled up about a simple survey, many are probably really not going to like a petition we stumbled across on change.org that calls for ASU to change its "Sun Devils" nickname.

The suggested change?

"Sun Angels."

The petition states: "What once might have been viewed as acceptable - is now just plain demonic. Anyone with an ounce of Christian belief will have a hard time pledging allegiance to…being loyal to…or spending money with the devil. With every T-shirt, souvenir and game ticket they sell, they solidify their consent that idolizing the devil is just fine with them. This must stop - and the solution is a simple one. ASU can simply flip the switch and rename their teams, the 'Sun Angels.' A precedent already exists for this and it has existed for over 44 years in plain sight, right on the ASU campus. In direct opposition to the Sun Devil moniker, the university’s track & field stadium is already named the 'Sun Angel Stadium,' and is considered one of the finer facilities of its kind in the country. Oddly, it sits within walking distance to the Sun Devil Football Stadium."

Diehard fans of Sparky and the Sun Devils name can take some comfort in the fact that the petition has under 3,000 signatures since it went up a year ago.

Many of the signers of the petition expressed in the comments that they signed the petition because they can't support the devil and that a more positive mascot would be better for ASU.

The petition, and its signers, appear to be in the minority in regards to the Sun Devils moniker.

The Arizona Republic ran a poll on Twitter asking readers if they thought ASU's mascot was offensive.

The results were in no way scientific, but they were interesting, with 86.5% of more than 1,800 voters voting that Sparky was "not offensive at all."

That meant that a small number of people did think the Sun Devils' mascot was offensive. Of the voters, 8.3% replied that Sparky was in fact, "very offensive" and 5.2% responded that he was "maybe a little offensive."

Sparky came into the spotlight earlier this week when he was included as the No 8 "most-offensive" college mascot in a survey conducted by Quality Logo Products.

ASU fans quickly came to Sparky's defense on social media, flooding AZCentral Twitter and Facebook posts with comments slamming the poll.

But, as the petition on change.org shows, some people do in fact find the mascot offensive, just like the survey indicated.

Do you think ASU needs to change its mascot/nickname?

Weigh in on this Twitter poll and on this Facebook post.

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.