Renaming Pro Sports Teams

[jaybird2001wi]

ESPNs Page 2 listed team nicknames as one of faults of professional sports. Which I tend to agree with. Time and time again, pro sports franchises drop the ball on naming their teams generic names or taking a team name to a different city. Team nicknames are sometimes overused (Panthers anyone?). Also, franchises should not name their teams with nicknames not ending in an "S."

 

So I have listed teams that should rename themselves because of nonsensical team nicknames and have left off the justifiable team nicknames.

 

NFL

The only team that has a name which does not make much sense is the Cincinnati Bengals. I know the name has been around awhile, but has there ever been a reported sighting of a Bengal in the Cincinnati area?

 

NHL - This league along with the NBA has the least sensible nicknames

Nashville Predators - Generic name because ownership probably couldn't think of anything else. Why couldn't they do something connected with the community?

St. Louis Blues - Maybe they should switch this team name with Nashville's.

Minnesota Wild - Team name not ending in an S

Anaheim Ducks - Commercialize team name, stupid Disney movie

Atlanta Thrashers - Generic name

Phoenix Coyotes - Generic name

 

NBA

Toronto Rapters - Will any of us remember Jurassic Park 20-30 years down the road?

Memphis Grizzlies - Ownership seemed a bit too lazy to change the name after leaving Vancouver

New Orleans Hornets - See Grizzlies

Oklahoma City Thunder

Washington Wizards

Miami Heat

Utah Jazz

Orlando Magic - See Anaheim Ducks

[NeedMoreFans]

Some of yours I agree with, some I don't. I think Coyotes are fine for Phoenix...they actually have coyotes in Arizona (unlike the Grizzlies in Memphis). There are LOTS of generic names in sports...the Bulls, Bears, Cubs, Tigers, Lions, Eagles, just to name a couple. Here are some I'd change...

 

MLB

Washington Nationals

 

NBA

Memphis Grizzlies

New Orleans Hornets

Charlotte Bobcats

Toronto Raptors

Oklahoma City Thunder

 

NHL

Minnesota Wild

Anaheim Ducks (at least they dropped Mighty)

Columbus Blue Jackets (what is a blue jacket, anyways)

Atlanta Thrashers

Nashville Predators

 

NFL

Carolina Panthers (what, they have panthers and bobcats in Charlotte?)

Houston Texans (people in Dallas are Texans, too)

 

All of my teams are expansion teams since 1994 or teams that have moved recently.

[trwi7]

Nashville Predators - Generic name because ownership probably couldn't think of anything else. Why couldn't they do something connected with the community?

They found a saber-toothed tiger skull while digging in downtown Nashville in 1971 during construction of the First American National Bank. That's where the logo came from. The other name choices were the Ice Tigers, Fury or Attack. I think they made the right choice.

 

Minnesota Wild - Team name not ending in an S

 

What's wrong with a name not ending in S? The logo fits the name as well. A cat like creature with a forest and river running through.

 

Atlanta Thrashers - Generic name

 

Named after the state bird - the brown thrasher.

 

Phoenix Coyotes - Generic name

What's wrong with this name? It's not like it's a commonly used name and it's not like coyotes don't live in Arizona. I like names that aren't commonly used.

[JoeH33]

I always thought the Utah Jazz and LA Lakers made no sense.

[trwi7]

The Jazz came from New Orleans which made sense in New Orleans and the Lakers came from Minnesota which made sense there, but they never changed their names.

[Diskono]

The Charlotte Bobcats and Columbus Blue Jackets should merge and become the Charlotte Starter Jackets IMHO.

 

The St Louis Blues were actually named after an old song of the same name, and also for the large number of prominent blues musicians from the city. So that one actually does make sense.

[brewdude15]

What's wrong with Washington Nationals?

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I always thought the Utah Jazz and LA Lakers made no sense.

 

No doubt. Our teams in LA are named after lakes in Minnesota and kids trying to avoid street cars in Brooklyn. We have no lakes or public transportation. How about the LA Smogs or the LA Stuck in Traffics. Jazz in Utah...nothing makes less sense than that one.

[hawing]

No doubt. Our teams in LA are named after lakes in Minnesota and kids trying to avoid street cars in Brooklyn. We have no lakes or public transportation. How about the LA Smogs or the LA Stuck in Traffics. Jazz in Utah...nothing makes less sense than that one.

LA Backups

LA Gridlock (though that violates the singular/plural rule in the lead post)

[SheetsCyYoung04]

Nashville Predators - Generic name because ownership probably couldn't think of anything else. Why couldn't they do something connected with the community?

I recall they found some fossils or something while building the arena.

[GB12]

A 3 team NBA trade. Not uncommon in that league, only this time we shall use names.

 

Utah receives: Bobcats

New Orleans receives: Jazz

Charlotte receives: Hornets

 

Much better.

 

I think the worst name of them all has to be the Pacers.

[RyDogg66]

The Pacers is named for the Indy 500 I believe, that isnt terrible. Although it would be like naming Milwaukee's basketball team the Milwaukee Tundra or something like that after the Packers.

[phxMILWfan]

I actually like the Pacers name. It makes sense, the Indy 500 is the biggest thing going on in that area. I always thought the Bucks name was kind of strange considering they are named after what a good portion of the state shoots at. Still not terrible.

[logan82]

named after what a good portion of the state shoots at.

 

and the rest of us inadvertently hit with our vehicles.

[M Skjellyfetti]

I think Hornets does work pretty well for New Orleans, because there are a lot of them (or wasps or some crazy bee-like things) down here. I think it's a decent name if there's no chance of getting Jazz back from Utah. I also don't really understand why team names should have an "s" after them. I hear people say that as though it's common knowledge all the time, but I've never heard an actual reason for it.

[SoCalBrewfan]

For whatever reason, Utah has taken the Jazz nickname to heart, so that subsequent sports teams there often also end (or ended) in z or zz, like the former WNBA Starzz or the minor league Orem Owlz. Their PCL team used to be the Buzz, but changed to the Bees a few years ago, going to an older name and dropping the zz for some reason I don't recall. Our onetime farm team the Ogden Raptors kind of bucked the trend I guess.

 

St. Louis Blues - Maybe they should switch this team name with Nashville's.

 

Though there's some history for Nashville Blues, and a song by that name, that would be less pleasing to me...nowadays as well as historically, it's more Memphis blues and Nashville for country in that state. Actually, I think St. Louis Blues is a great name, one of the cooler ones in sports, referencing a famous old song associated with names like WC Handy (who wrote it), Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith...though perhaps even those names are lost on most who hear them these days?

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets is odd, but it's a reference to the US Civil War, I think. Reminds me of the minor league Augusta Green Jackets, named for the Masters. (Minor league baseball names can be pretty cool...always loved the Lubbock Crickets.)

 

As I recall, Carolina Panthers has something to do with sightings of black mountain lions in the Carolinas. That's a bit odd to me as I think of Florida Panthers, which are a slightly different critter from the swamplands down there...very much endangered for that matter. I guess there's a hockey team bearing that name, or used to be? To me, Jacksonville Jaguars makes less sense than any of them, except for the alliteration...I don't think the historical range of Jaguars went anywhere near Florida.

 

The Washington Wizards of course changed their name from Bullets...at least they have alliteration going for them now. I like Washington Nationals, honestly...don't see the complaint there. Senators would have had its merits, maybe, but the other two Senators franchises still exist, in the AL to boot, and Nationals fits the new league assignment and has some history as well.

[NeedMoreFans]

Now that I know the history behind the naming of the Blue Jackets, it makes sense. I just remember their logo of the bee from a few years back and thought it made no sense.

I guess my issue with the Nationals is more of a personal thing than anything. I mean, Washington has so much history and it is so important and so much goes on there...I thought they could do a little bit better.

[Invader3K]

The thing that bugged me about the Washington Nationals name was that in the All-Star game, the announcers would sometimes refer to the two teams as "the Americans" and "the Nationals." Now they obviously can't do that.

 

I do agree wtih NeedMoreFans that it just seems like they could have done a bit better. Washington has had teams before, after all. I know they couldn't use the Senators name (the Rangers retain the rights to it, I guess), but maybe they could have used the old Negro League team name (Grays) or something.

[Katuluu]

The Nationals logo is terrible, but I think the name is just fine.

 

And jaguars once lived in the swamps of Florida SoCal.

[trwi7]

I don't believe jaguars ever had that range. They've been found in the U.S., but their range is Arizona and possibly New Mexico and Texas.

[FVBrewerFan]

Utah Salties

Charlotte Racers

New Orleans Survivors

 

 

Problem solved.

[SoCalBrewfan]

jaguars once lived in the swamps of Florida SoCal.

 

But now all you see down there are Lexuses and Infinitis, and the occasional Range Rover.

 

I thought as twri7 did, that jaguars were restricted to the SW (as well as points further south), and that the Florida Panther was the historical swamp cat of choice.

 

New Orleans Hurricanes would once have been a nice double-meaning name (either the storm or the drink could knock you silly), but I think that might be too sore a point now. The University of New Orleans has the name 'Privateers' which recognizes the historical presence of what some less-enlightened characters might now call pirates...I think the city had a Pirates or Buccaneers franchise at one point as well. The PCL Zephyrs kept the name of the Denver team displaced by the Rockies...that gentle breeze seems an odd choice now to be sure.

[cubfan1126]

There are LOTS of generic names in sports...the Bulls, Bears, Cubs, Tigers, Lions, Eagles, just to name a couple. Here are some I'd change...

 

I will address the three team names from Chicago.

I will not attempt to justify the name Cubs - none of you would really care anyway. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

Bulls - The Chicago Bulls started out playing at the Chicago Amphitheatre which was located in the Chicago Stock yards, hence the name.

 

Bears - When George Halas moved the team to Chicago from and dropped the name Staleys (named after the original co-owner the Staley Starch company) and signed a lease to play in Wrigley Field, he said, " I noted that football players are much bigger players than baseball players, so if baseball players are cubs, then football players must be bears."

[1992casey]

You can count me in with those who don't like singular team nicknames. I also quarrel with several teams who identify with the state rather than the city. Exceptions:

• Minnesota Twins: They represent two cities of relatively equal significance.
• Texas Rangers: Dallas and Fort Worth wouldn't be as "equal" as Minneapolis and St. Paul, but the Rangers did succeed the Dallas-Fort Worth minor league franchise. Besides that, Texas Rangers simply sounds cool. I think it's one of the best team names around.
• California Angels: The name is no longer used, but it addressed the fact that the team is located in an expanse of several cities. Of course, even though it would seem justified, it got confusing when the California Golden Seals--located in the Bay Area--played in the NHL.
  

This one especially bugs me.

• Wisconsin Timber Rattlers / Wisconsin Woodchucks: One team is in Appleton; the other is in Wausau. How confusing is that?

I'm fine with the Washington Nationals. Nationals was actually the official nickname of the American League Washington franchise for a long time. People didn't like it, however, and called the team the Senators anyway.

[Diskono]

When I was a kid, I couldn't figure out what state the Golden State Warriors played in.