Snake based team names and logos

[Reaper98]

Has anyone noticed that there is an overall lack of sports team names and logos having to do with snakes?

While I have heard of the IHL Detroit Vipers and a few other minor league teams having snake names and logos I must confess that I haven't heard of many.

Does anyone know of any or are they really that scarce?

[TruColor]

Uh...the Arizona Diamondbacks...

[webdav]

Uh...the Arizona Diamondbacks...

And they have a minor league team called the "Sidewinders"

[GMS1122]

arizona rattlers of the AFL.... Tennesse Valley Vipers of AF2 but i suppose those arent so "major league"

[yh]

You can debate the "major league-ness" of the AFL, but they also have the Carolina Cobras (who are winless and thus the term "major league" may be dubious regardless of what you may think of Arena Football).

When the Arizona MLB team was named, I seem to recall a story on NPR about how snakes are viewed by a number of churches as being a sign of the devil or symbolic of the Original Sin and that's the likely reason why there weren't more snake-based names in sports.  I would imagine when major league sports were in their initial growth periods in the early to mid-20th Century a lot of the people who owned teams were still churchgoing folk and wouldn't even think about using a snake as the mascot for a team.  That would probably also explain the dearth of snake-based names among college teams.  The only ones I can think of are Fla. A&M Rattlers and ETSU Moccasins.

Then of course, there's also the fact most of the older pro sports teams were located in areas where snakes aren't so, shall we say, visible.

[webdav]

When the Arizona MLB team was named, I seem to recall a story on NPR about how snakes are viewed by a number of churches as being a sign of the devil or symbolic of the Original Sin and that's the likely reason why there weren't more snake-based names in sports.

I just don't like snakes... but if they were concerned with religious overtones and being associated with the devil, why, oh why, did the MLB let the name Devil Rays get passed review stage?

They should/could have just gone with "Rays."

[Phil]

I would imagine when major league sports were in their initial growth periods in the early to mid-20th Century a lot of the people who owned teams were still churchgoing folk and wouldn't even think about using a snake as the mascot for a team.

There's your answer, webdav. We're not talking about now, we're talking about the time span when many of today's major franchises were founded. And obviously someone in Winnipeg isn't gonna name their pro team the Winnipeg Anacondas just because it has nothing to do with the region's environment.

but if they were concerned with religious overtones and being associated with the devil, why, oh why, did the MLB let the name Devil Rays get passed review stage?

And in response to your question about "being associated with the devil", there's a certain New Jersey hockey team that I believe would be an issue before Tampa Bay baseball.

[GMS1122]

couldnt have put it better myself SyPhi

[13thFloorElevators]

also wasn't there a minor league hockey team called the Monroe Moccasins?

[webdav]

And in response to your question about "being associated with the devil", there's a certain New Jersey hockey team that I believe would be an issue before Tampa Bay baseball.

True. However, the difference is that:

A: The Devils have actually won a championship - the Rays suck.

B: "New Jersey Devils" fits into the category of "Funny Team Names"

C: The Devils have yet to acquire Satan from Buffalo, therefore avoiding a potential SportCenter jokefest

D: Did I mention the Rays suck?

[GMS1122]

i always wanted to name a team "place your city here" Venom, i always thought it would make for some cool logos, not just snakes....i had a old fantasy team named that, the logo was a snake wrapping in and around a skull, not bad for a 6th grader..

[IronChefShark]

i dont understand the fear of snakes whatsoever.

I was doing a gopher service (poisoning them ok!) and I found a decent size gopher snake in the yard. I brought the lady who lived there outside to show it to her and she absolutely FREAKED!  :laugh:

her husband then came out with a cardboard box and i picked it up and put it in the box and brought it back to the office and had some fun with the chicks in the office!  

the bossman took the snake home with him though and released it on his acreage.

it was a harmless gopher snake, christ! in california, the only snakes you need to worry about are the ones with rattles!

[webdav]

i dont understand the fear of snakes whatsoever.

I'll try to explain my irrational fear of snakes:

Setting: high school biology class, sophomore year.

Situation: Me, trying on the school mascot head (a horse head - we were the Broncs) - the hold to put my head in was slightly too small, so once it was on, it was difficult to get off

Problem: Some jerk sticks the class snake (I don't even remember  what kind it was) in the nose hole of the horse head, so here I am, stuck in a VERY close space with a snake

So, I panic - pull the head off (the mascot head, not the head of the snake!) And I have had a fear of snakes since.

Sort of like a non-voluntary episode of Fear Factor.

[RobRoberts]

And in response to your question about "being associated with the devil", there's a certain New Jersey hockey team that I believe would be an issue before Tampa Bay baseball.

\

Syphi, The NJ Devils are also named after a creature that lived in the NJ Pine Barrons area.  It is something that was genuinely believed in by the people of the area... then again, the NJ Devil was seen in Philly, but never that I have noted anway, in East Rutherford.

SO this was a real thing that people really believed in; not actually the devil.  Therefore the name "Devil" has more to do with it being a nusance and causing trouble than it actually being the devil we read of in the Bible.  Think also of the Tasmanian Devil.

Besides, the team was named in 1982, and it's not like the team plays in Nashville or anything...

I also wanted to add in that there was an older team (in the old echl was it?) named the Jersey Devils.

Rob

[Phil]

Hey, thanks for the heads-up Rob. I never knew that.

I have a feeling though that the logo and general identity of the team refers more to the Devil we read of in the Bible than the fictional (or was it factual) heck-raiser in New Jersey.

[yh]

Besides, the team was named in 1982, and it's not like the team plays in Nashville or anything...

True, but they threatened too back in the early 90's!!!

[random]

A "devil ray" also has nothing to do with the prince of darkness. its simply a very large manta ray.

i think the lack of snake names has less to do with religion and more to do with the fact that people just dont like snakes, same reason there arent more "spiders"

[RobRoberts]

Besides, the team was named in 1982, and it's not like the team plays in Nashville or anything...

True, but they threatened too back in the early 90's!!!

I know.  Get it.  It was a joke.  

Rob

[MidwestEagle]

If I remember correctly, When Tampa Bay Arizona were granted MLB teams, more religious people objected to the name Devil Rays than Diamondbacks. The reasoning behind this is that if you spell Ray abckwards you get Yar which is another name for Lucifer. I think that people were looking too hard into this, but notice how over the last 2 or 3 years, the Devil Rays have all but dropped Devil from thier name and are simply using Rays?

[Phil]

Probably because it fits on the jersey better. Just like most people say "Jays"... the Jays have yet to drop Blue from their jerseys, but still... you can do a lot more with smaller words than with longer or multiple words, especially on baseball jerseys.