B-Rich

Tried one of those at a neat little restaurant on Cape Cod about a month ago. It was freaking delicious (and a lot larger than I expected).

And of course, where were the "New Orleans Baby Cakes" on the list? The answer-- they were not on it, in their second year of existence as such (2018). This after they sold all that "silly" "cute" "wacky" merch online nationwide (big-time) -- and to a few transplants, hipsters, and clueless folks locally--and made the list in 2017, which the owner was quick to point out in defending the name. Of course, the name has no staying power or attraction to local fans who had and would continue to buy team merch LONG TERM, not just for themselves but for every new crop of kids that come along EACH YEAR. Just goes to show, the fix was always in, and the name change was just a cash grab by owner Lou Schwechheimer. At least he's not getting Havana, but settling for Wichita.

THIS. As a baseball fan, I've experienced first hand how long of a drive it is across downtown Tampa, across the Howard Frankland Bridge and down the Pinellas peninsula to this stadium, and how far away the stadium is from the existing and potential fan base (which I would, in fact, extend up to Orlando). As a planner, I always wanted to find a accurate graphic to show how badly this stadium is located in terms of being accessible to its fan base. After some Google search, I think I've about found it. It's not perfect-- I was looking for one of those maps with scattered dots representing population density, but what I found should do. Here is a map, developed using University of Florida data, showing the 2005 urbanized/populated areas of Florida, focusing on Tampa Bay with the outskirts of Orlando in the upper-middle-right. Tropicana Field is shown as the yellow dot in St. Petersburg: You'll see that there is while the Pinellas peninsula is almost 100% developed, there is still more developed area, with houses, neighborhoods; people on the immediate northeast (Tampa) side of the bay. Being almost at the tip of the Pinellas peninsula, the stadium location stands out as being surrounded on almost 3 sides by water. And there is a lot of development along the I-4 corridor to Orlando, which will become even more developed in the future, as these growth prediction map from the same source show: All of that red, orange and yellow growth is and will continue to be occurring north, south and east of Tampa. Pinellas is built out, hemmed in by water, and can't grow anymore. An "urban" stadium located in downtown Tampa would become immediately more accessible to fans and a hit with purists, but it may be more advantageous attendance-wise to pull an Atlanta Braves or Texas Rangers and place a new stadium somewhere in the eastern 'burbs, maybe near the I-4/I-75 interchange. I'm certain that a location there starts to get you a lot more Lakeland, Winter Haven, even Orlando fan flow-- heck, three of the four times I've seen the Rays I drove down from Disney, and the drive from the House of Mouse to the edge of Tampa is only 1/2 the total length-- you still have to cross all of Tampa, the Bay, and down a ways to downtown St. Pete to get to the baseball stadium. And as McCarthy noted, the stadium is also a bad joke. It has the misfortune of being the last permanently domed baseball stadium built before retractable roofs became a thing, and also the last one completed before the renaissance in baseball stadiums began with Camden Yards. I've been to a lot of baseball stadiums in my life, and the only worse one I can recall was the Kingdome-- a great big antiseptic mausoleum. And just as the Kingdome was replaced after 23 years of baseball (1976-99), Tropicana Field needs to be replaced the same way after a similar time span (1998 to 2019 =21 years at present; give a few more years for a new stadium to be constructed).

Just for reference sake, let's look at Anaheim-based teams in everything but the dinkiest of leagues (and some cool old logos, of course). First up, September 1965 -- With one month left to go in the season, the Los Angeles Angels are renamed the California Angels, as they will be moving to Anaheim the following season. 1967 -- ABA expansion team Anaheim Amigos last one season in that city, then are sold and moved to Los Angeles, becoming the Stars. 1974 -- WFL expansion team placed in Anaheim; named the Southern California Sun; lasts two seasons: 1978 -- NASL's St. Louis Stars move to Anaheim Stadium, follow the Angels' lead and become the California Surf; last three seasons: 1978 -- World Team Tennis franchise placed in Anaheim, named the Anaheim Oranges (in a later '80s incarnation at the same location, called the California Oranges) 1980 -- The Rams follow through on a planned moved to suburban Anaheim, but remain the "Los Angeles Rams" (despite a blurb I read in Sports Illustrated article in the late '70s suggesting that they may be called the "California Rams") 1993 -- NHL expands to Anaheim, team name is "Mighty Ducks of Anaheim", later changed to "Anaheim Ducks" 1994 -- Anaheim Piranhas in the Arena Football league; last till 1997. 1997 -- Angels changed name from California Angels to Anaheim Angels. 2005 -- Team owner changes baseball name to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2014 -- Anaheim becomes home to LA KISS of the Arena football League; lasts to 2016. So for teams playing in Anaheim: we have 4 instances of "Anaheim", 3 of "California", 2 of "Los Angeles" or "LA", 1 of "Los Angles of Anaheim" and 1 of "Southern California". Tenure-wise in toto, we have 40 years of "Anaheim"; 39 years of "California", 18 years of "Los Angeles" or "LA", 14 of "Los Angeles of Anaheim" and 2 of "Southern California". It's obviously the most messed-up location in terms of name-place in major league sports.

Just an aside.... It is pretty much common knowledge that the name "Bandits" came about via Burt Reynolds' minority ownership stake in the team, with "The Bandit" being his most iconic character. This led to Burt's crew being involved-- Jerry Reed's Banditball song, Loni Anderson's poster, etc.: But what many don't know is that the Tampa Bay logo, with the Bandit all in black except for a red bandanna, riding on a black horse, was actually adapted from an image in the 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit" -- in particular, the mural on Beau "Bandit" Darville's rig (yeah, I know, Cletus "Snowman" Snow was driving it, but it was actually the Bandit's rig). Check it out:

SERIOUSLY?

New look for Mizzou football: Watch: Missouri officially reveals new design for football helmets Lame. Copying Clemson?

that, and what we had about 20-25 years ago with the minor keague hockey explosion: ice gators ice bats ice pilots ice dogs ice cats ice hogs ice bears ice hawks ice pirates I swear, I wanted to have a team called the ice monkeys.

While "Baby Cakes" is certainly less 'clunky' than "King Cake Babies" (and there is no doubt, THAT is the prime focus of the imagery, a king cake baby), 'Baby Cakes' is just as 'clunky' as 'King Cakes'. You're basically agreeing to my point-- that the owners and Brandiose came up with this monstrosity to market not to the locals, but nationwide. There is nothing 'authentic' about the name whatsoever, no matter how much Mardi Gras imagery you stick on it; and the name is a slap in the face to locals. And while I agree that it is easy to draw the line from Baby Cakes to "Oh, they're talking about a king cake baby", you miss that the immediate extension of that line, from locals young and old is "what the f...? Why would they even DO that?" Oh, and re: crawfish and 'mudbugs', sure. That's a common nickname. Long time name of a Shreveport's hockey team. But 'swamp lobsters' would be seen as what it is, a completely made-up and original contrivance (though a better fit than Brandiose's "Red Eyes') Well, your impressions are wrong, and a little lackadaisical. "You get the crown and you're 'king for the day' or whatever". What's this crown crap?... Ain't no crowns involved in king cake, and no 'king of the day'. And while we Southerners (and particularly South Louisianans) ARE great hosts, the king cake routine is nothing like that-- cakes are typically brought into office break rooms for workers to nosh on all day, or kids bring them to school to share, etc. And whoever gets the piece with the baby gets the next one.... if a king cake is at any party, or on a folding table on the parade route, they have about as much attention as the cheese dip, Popeye's chicken or mini-muffaletta trays. And you are right about there being commemorative 'cake figurines', but those are different and separate from the king cake babies. King cake babies are cheap plastic things that are stuffed into (or under) a warm cake: The commemorative figurines, however, are porcelain, not plastic; are made by ONE bakery in town (Haydel's); come in their own separate Ziploc package OUTSIDE OF THE CAKE in addition to the baby inside the cake; always represent some aspect of Mardi Gras and New Orleans; and a different one is produced every year. And yeah, my family does have a collection of those commemorative figurines which we display and add to every year. Whenever you can come on down to New Orleans, give me a holler-- I'll show you what it's ALL about.

Now you're just reaching. "There's a lot of background research into the names". As I posted back in 2016 when the name was announced, from a local newspaper article that quoted directly from the Brandiose guys, they were here barely 2 DAYS doing on-the-ground research. And to say, "specifically Baby Cakes would only work in New Orleans" is flat out wrong. It doesn't even work IN New Orleans. Brandiose and the out-of-town owners stated that they DERIVED the name; it is NOT even a real thing (the local term is and has always been "king cake baby"). They stated in their finalist name descriptions that a king cake baby "was sought after", while New Orleanians know the exact OPPOSITE is true-- you don't want the piece with the baby, because by tradition then you have to buy the next cake. Swallowing the baby or not owning up to getting the piece with the baby is even a long-running joke around here. Not knowing these things is the kind of "lot of background research" these guys do. That's why 91% of respondents in an online poll after the name was announced HATED the name. These guys were so clueless that another one of their finalist names was "Red Eyes" for crawfish, despite the fact that (a) Crawfish do not have red eyes, and (b) NO ONE HERE HAS EVER CALLED THEM THAT. It's relevant because this was the point of the name change all along. Nothing to do with building local interest, or picking a name that locals would go for, it was a short-term cash grab, which the owners essentially even admitted to. Minor league merch-- just like MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL merch-- is now sold all over the country, so they came up with the most 'whimsical' "cute' 'silly' (stupid) name that would sell the most merch nationwide-- not to locals in New Orleans, 91% of whom disapprove of it and who see the name as a joke-- but to the many more people in places like Atlanta, Tampa Bay, New York, Boise, etc. who want to wear something cute and recent and 'out there'.

Exactly. Here, "Da Levee":

And you live in Atlanta. 'Nuff said. No. 1: There is no set deal that the name Baby Cakes would stay in New Orleans; if anything, this gives locals at least an opportunity to right a wrong and get rid of the ridiculous Baby Cakes name which is overwhelmingly hated. No 2: Who is this "they're" you are speaking of? The current franchise owner, Lou Schwecheimer (the only guy who would want to keep the name Baby Cakes)? "They're" is certainly not referring to those in charge of the stadium: the commissioners of the LSED (Louisiana Sports and Entertainment District). Why would they want to deal with a guy who is taking the current team and leaving? It'd be like Spanos telling San Diego: "Sorry, I'm moving the NFL Chargers out of your stadium, but hey-- I'll bring in another team named Chargers for your stadium in either the AAF or XFL." No. 3: The Carolina Mudcats have a history going back to their days of the Columbus Mudcats from 1989-1991, and the Carolina Mudcats since then in Zebulon. Their name is beloved by fans with 30 years history. The Baby Cakes name is reviled by fans, with only two years existence before the owner announced he's taking the franchise elsewhere. No. 4: No, we don't complain about Brandiose too much. See above. Again.... no.

Disagree with so much of this. (1) Zephyr Field doe NOT need a lot of work to modernize and right-size it. (2) My anecdotal experience is very different. Not sure how old you are, but I was there as a 28 year-old at Privateer Park when the Zephyrs played their first game in New Orleans in 1993, and was in the owners' suite for the first game in Zephyr Field in 1997. Back in those days, I saw a LOT more Zephyrs merch around town than in the last two years seeing Baby Cakes' merch. This was true for adults (the beautiful blue and green 'Z' caps, in particular) but even more so for kids (t-shirts, caps, etc.). Now in the last 10 years, I will concur that one rarely saw Zephyrs merch, but that was because the team is, after all, 25 years here and also went through some stupid re-brands that never registered (the Nutria "bite" logo, the fleur-de-bat Z in blue and silver, etc.). Not to mention the NBA Hornets/Pelicans came along and quickly pushed the AAA team to a distant third in fandom. Also anecdotally, I made it a point, after seeing someone wearing Baby Cakes gear in public, to talk to them about it, whether they were someone at a party or gathering I was attending or just a stranger on the street (no one I KNOW actually bought any merch). They turned out to be (a) recent transplants, such as the fireman originally from Cincinnati, (b) out-of-towners visiting for Mardi Gras or Jazz fest, or in one case (c) an employee of the team. And without fail, they were all youngish slightly hipster types, MOST of whom really weren't even baseball fans. They just though the name and logo was "funny" and "cute". (3) I have no doubt that money-grubbing Lou Schwecheimer would like to be involved in some shape or form with an AA team here and keeping the name, if nothing else, so he can sell more of his remaining stock of Baby Cakes merch. But I also have no doubt that the local elected officials and members of the LSED are smart enough to kick him to the curb. (4) Word is the most likely team would be the Jackson (TN) Generals. And your statement of "it's too big for AAA baseball now, it's downright cavernous for a AA team" is pure hyperbole. Let's look at current AAA stadia size: Zephyr Field/Shrine on Airline is 10,000, closer to smaller range of stadiums and clearly in that middle bell curve of the 10,000-ish range. Now let's look at the current AA stadiums: Zephyr Field would be in the top end range of the AA stadiums in terms of capacity, but it would by no means be "downright cavernous". Take out (or tarp) the upper deck seats (but keep the suites) and it's right where it needs to be. (5) Not sure who else would step up to buy an AA Southern League franchise, but Tom Benson bought and tried to relocate a AA team at the same time that the Dikeous planned to move the Zephyrs from Denver; AND he was going to name the teams the Pelicans. His widow, Gayle, was the prime factors in getting him to buy the Hornets and keep them in town. I think she'd be the best bet for a LOCAL owner with deep pockets who could keep the team as a civic enterprise, rather than a prime source of income like Schwecheimer was doing.

Utah's "Dixie" is an interesting thing. It is, of course, in the southern part of Utah, but additionally many of its settlers were from the south. One of its first settlers had been a slave overseer and slave owner from North Carolina and Mississippi, and cotton, tobacco and other semi-tropical plants common to the South grew well there (all of this was prior to the Civil War, and well before Utah statehood). So the nickname of the area became "Utah's Dixie", and Dixie it has remained. Even more bizarre is that matching up with its name of Dixie State, up until 2009 the University's teams were named the "Rebels" which was then changed to the "Red Storm". In 2016, the nickname was changed again to the "Trailblazers".

Hopefully the name may be brought back to New Orleans, though it could easily fit in Wichita (it is a west wind, after all). Gayle Benson (Tom's widow; current Saints and Pelicans owner) has money to burn and the word on the street is that she will be involved in bringing in a Southern League AA franchise. The baseball stadium is essentially next door to the Saints and Pelicans training facilities, after all. Oh, and franchise owner Lou Schwecheimer and his flunky Cookie Rojas can kiss my a**.

This sounds painfully familiar to the events in New Orleans vis-à-vis the Baby Cakes-- no fan EVER suggested the name-- which isn't even a thing; it's DERIVED, mind you. The overwhelming majority of folks here hate it; the owners made their short term merch money from geeks and hipsters FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY who like the "cute" "playful" nickname, and after alienating the fan base, the owners are now moving the team on to Wichita. Damn, I wish we would have had a Dusty here in New Orleans.

Please, god, no. Lease expires after 2020 season. State (stadium owner) can (and should) say to Schwechheimer, "NO LEASE FOR YOU! Hit the road, jack, and don't let the door hit you on the way out." Concurrently, get Gayle Benson to acquire the AA Southern League franchise and give the lease deal to her (word 'round these parts is those wheels are already turning). The state owns the entire site, and the Saints and Pelicans training/practice facilities are already right next door: And the late Tom Benson had actually bought an AA team to move here in '93, but was trumped by the AAA Denver Zephyrs deciding to move to the market.

Feel free. You may want to use the original 2016 post for reference to BaseballHavana, etc.

Tweet by a local sports broadcaster: "Sources say that it will be announced tomorrow that the Baby Cakes will move to Wichita. The Baby Cakes have a lease through 2021, so baseball is not leaving yet, AND there is a group in NOLA hoping to bring an AA southern league team in by then". I don't know where to begin. So, Lou Schwechheimer buys the team 3 years ago, talks about how he is going to do great things by giving us a more local nickname (among other things) and changes the name prior to last year, , and now is planning to move them? As I noted in a post in 2016, Schwecheimer is also head of an organization called the Caribbean Baseball Initiative, which also includes a sub-group called BaseballHavana, which was formed after Obama began working to normalize relations with Cuba. Schwechheimer secured the exclusive rights from Minor League Baseball to return professional baseball to Havana. He obtained the necessary licensing from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. However, that initiative, and what I thought was his ultimate goal of moving the Miami Marlins AAA franchise to Havana, wound up being squelched by the surprising election of Trump later that year. Hilary Clinton would have certainly continued Obama's policies toward Cuba; instead Trump reinstated travel and trade restrictions that Obama had eased. Essentially, Schwechheimer's whole "Baseball Havana" deal was screwed. As Brian in Boston stated, "the Baby Cakes' attendance was down precipitously this season." I projected that as well, noting that a poll indicated 91% of respondents did not approve of the name change, and that many online (like myself) stated that they would not spend any money on the team - not just merchandise, but also actual game attendance. There were also some calls for a formal boycott of the team by fans, All I can hope for is that the "group in NOLA hoping to bring in an AA team" is NOT as indicated in the article linked by Buzzcut; i.e. the same Schwechheimer ownership group. Get him, his lame management, and his stupid "Baby Cakes" name out of here for good; let us have an AA Southern League team (with a decent name) with some nice regional rivals in Biloxi, Pensacola, Birmingham, Jacksonville, and Jackson, MS.

Nephew and I saw this company logo on a truck on the way back from Florida the other day, and agreed it could be the basis for a good sports logo. The cobra itself looked better than this on the truck; it was much bigger in relation to the word "COBRA" and wasn't just black and white, but white on a blue background....

Sorry, but those are all pretty bad.

If it's "Greenbow" Alabama, why couldn't they use green in the color scheme?

Orlando Thunder of the WLAF: Portland Storm of the WFL, 1974 (not sure if it is technically neon, but it was certainly a very bright lime green):

More like, "How Charlotte Got Damn-Ass Lucky That Tom Benson Bought the Hornets Franchise And Wanted a New Name, Freeing Up Their Old Name For The Taking"

Slightly off, fixed it for you. Rams, sheep, goats are not bovine; they are, however bovids (bovidae family); more specifically caprines (caprinae subfamily). Bovines (bovinae) are a separate subfamily of the Bovidae family. Bovines include cattle, bison, water buffalo, yaks and certain antelopes.