Regional Names?

[totc]

Just focusing on current, minor-league teams (pardon those which have already been listed)...

Baseball

Potomac Nationals

TWEET!

Potomac is actually a town -- it's just that it was enveloped by its surroundings. And the Nationals actually play 20 miles away in the town of Woodbridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potomac,_Virginia

[totc]

strange...there is a kootenai in idaho, and a kootenay in bc. so close, with both having near the same name. what up with that?

Kind of like Nogales, Mexico and Nogales, Texas

[stlbss]

Someone mentioned the AA "West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx" earlier.

The official name is acutally the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. Never understood the logic behind shortening Tennessee to Tenn. No one refers to it that way - i.e. you never hear anyone say "I'm from Tenn" or "Nashville is in Milddle Tenn" or "The Smokie mountains are in East Tenn" The only place you hear the word in conversation is in phrases like "the meeting will be at tenn-thirty tomorrow."

Plus, they had one of those "Name this team!" promotions in 1997 when the team announced they were moving here...and the best they could come up with was "Diamond Jaxx" Just a horrible identity, horrible logo, completely ignoring some of the cultural aspects of the region.

Love them or hate them, the Montgomery Biscuits sold a ton of merchandise when they came into existance a few years ago. But the Jaxx...a plain green or black hat with a "J" on it. You live in Oregon and you collect minor league hats - would you buy one of the hats? I'm guessing probably not.

I always thought they should have played up the connection of the community to Casey Jones, the engineer. Have a hat logo of a mean looking locomotive screaming off the tracks. Maybe call the team the engineers, and have a jersey logo somehow incorporating a train track and crossing lights. Not that artistic so I never sketched it out, but I can see it in my head.

The team is for sale so (assuming the team stays in Jackson) they may have chance to rename/rebrand the team. Should jump-start sales of team-related items.

[bhambruiser]

Someone mentioned the AA "West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx" earlier.

The official name is acutally the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. Never understood the logic behind shortening Tennessee to Tenn. No one refers to it that way - i.e. you never hear anyone say "I'm from Tenn" or "Nashville is in Milddle Tenn" or "The Smokie mountains are in East Tenn" The only place you hear the word in conversation is in phrases like "the meeting will be at tenn-thirty tomorrow."

Plus, they had one of those "Name this team!" promotions in 1997 when the team announced they were moving here...and the best they could come up with was "Diamond Jaxx" Just a horrible identity, horrible logo, completely ignoring some of the cultural aspects of the region.

Love them or hate them, the Montgomery Biscuits sold a ton of merchandise when they came into existance a few years ago. But the Jaxx...a plain green or black hat with a "J" on it. You live in Oregon and you collect minor league hats - would you buy one of the hats? I'm guessing probably not.

I always thought they should have played up the connection of the community to Casey Jones, the engineer. Have a hat logo of a mean looking locomotive screaming off the tracks. Maybe call the team the engineers, and have a jersey logo somehow incorporating a train track and crossing lights. Not that artistic so I never sketched it out, but I can see it in my head.

The team is for sale so (assuming the team stays in Jackson) they may have chance to rename/rebrand the team. Should jump-start sales of team-related items.

i always kind of liked the diamond jaxx identity. i thought the name was pretty original.

i have always thought a team in Birmingham should be called the Magic City "Something-or-anothers". Our ABA team is the Birmingham Magicians, but I always thought it would be a cool way to refer to Birmingham since that is the city's nickname

The Magic City nickname came about because of the quick growth in the beginning. Some said it happened like magic and the nickname stuck. Though the city experienced hard times during the Great Depression of the 1930?s, it rapidly came back during and after World War II. As time went by, more of the economy was shifted from the iron and steel mills to that of manufacturing and service oriented industries.

[lucky]

Do people actually do refer to the REGION around the body of water as the bay?  I mean, everyone says San Francisco is in the  "Bay Area".  That makes sense.  But there's no way "Tampa Bay" can be a region.  It's water.  Look it up.

Its like saying the Mississippi River is a region.

Yes actually, people down here do refer to it as Tampa Bay. I know it's a body of water, but it is also waht we refer to our area as. News stations down here are referred to as "Tampa Bay's 10" or "Tampa Bay's Action News". Tampa Bay is a regional term used to unify the area, albeit with many different cities. I don't mean to be defensive, but that's the way it is, ask anyone else on this board from the Tampa Bay area and I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing.

In a way the Mississippi River (or any other major river for that matter) can be a region, ever heard the Weather Channel refer to something called the "Mississippi River Valley" or the "Ohio River Valley"?

Exactly - you had to add "valley" to the name without even thinking because it just sounds wrong without it. I don't doubt that people say Tampa Bay, even locals. But its dumb. Sorry.

[dunford]

Currently in Minor League Baseball:

Brooklyn Cyclones

Staten Island Yankees

(You can't count the Brooklyn Dodgers because Brooklyn was a separate city when the team was founded. Now it's just part of NYC.)

Brooklyn and Staten Island are municipal entities that exist within New York City. The mailing address of the Cyclones is in Brooklyn, NY, just as the mailing address of the SI Yanks is Staten Island, NY. Nobody uses New York, NY as an overarching mailing address for anything...people live in Brooklyn and Staten Island, pay their taxes in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and have their mail addressed to Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx, while all parts of New York City, maintain a unified borough/city name for all residents (as well as a government).

Manhattan is known as New York, NY.

Queens...is weird. The Mets play in the Queens "town" of Flushing.

I hope this clears that matter up.

[Stampman]

The Okanagan Sun

of the CJFL

And on a technicality--the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders and BC Lions.

Saskatechewan & BC are provinces not states...

But only on a technicality as they are counterparts to states.

[stlbss]

Someone mentioned the AA "West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx" earlier.

The official name is acutally the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.  Never understood the logic behind shortening Tennessee to Tenn.  No one refers to it that way - i.e. you never hear anyone say "I'm from Tenn" or "Nashville is in Milddle Tenn" or "The Smokie mountains are in East Tenn"  The only place you hear the word in conversation is in phrases like "the meeting will be at tenn-thirty tomorrow."

Plus, they had one of those "Name this team!" promotions in 1997 when the team announced they were moving here...and the best they could come up with was "Diamond Jaxx"  Just a horrible identity, horrible logo, completely ignoring some of the cultural aspects of the region. 

Love them or hate them, the Montgomery Biscuits sold a ton of  merchandise when they came into existance a few years ago.  But the Jaxx...a plain green or black hat with a "J" on it.  You live in Oregon and you collect minor league hats - would you buy one of the hats?  I'm guessing probably not.

I always thought they should have played up the connection of the community to Casey Jones, the engineer.  Have a hat logo of a mean looking locomotive screaming off the tracks.  Maybe call the team the engineers, and have a jersey logo somehow incorporating a train track and crossing lights.  Not that artistic so I never sketched it out, but I can see it in my head.

The team is for sale so (assuming the team stays in Jackson) they may have chance to rename/rebrand the team.  Should jump-start sales of team-related items.

i always kind of liked the diamond jaxx identity. i thought the name was pretty original.

i have always thought a team in Birmingham should be called the Magic City "Something-or-anothers". Our ABA team is the Birmingham Magicians, but I always thought it would be a cool way to refer to Birmingham since that is the city's nickname

The Magic City nickname came about because of the quick growth in the beginning. Some said it happened like magic and the nickname stuck. Though the city experienced hard times during the Great Depression of the 1930?s, it rapidly came back during and after World War II. As time went by, more of the economy was shifted from the iron and steel mills to that of manufacturing and service oriented industries.

The name isn't the worst they could have done, but the original uniforms were terrible. They really struggled wtih an identity the first few years i.e. the mascot costume changed every year. The first year it was a jack playing card type man, the second year it was a baseball, the third year it was some random creation, etc...

They remade the uniforms a few years ago when the team changed hands, and put a miner holding a diamond on the cap, which was much better than the original cap - it was a "J" wearing a poorly done crown.

They've had some good talent pass through - Corey Patterson was here in 2000 and he couldn't hit the curveball then. Probably the highlight though was watching Mark Prior strike out 9 of the first 10 in his first home start. He had an untouchable 95+ fastball that day, something that you don't normally see in AA ball.

I've always liked the Barons logo & uniforms. The old english "B" on the hat is well done.

[therebelas]

Someone mentioned the AA "West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx" earlier.

The official name is acutally the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. Never understood the logic behind shortening Tennessee to Tenn. No one refers to it that way - i.e. you never hear anyone say "I'm from Tenn" or "Nashville is in Milddle Tenn" or "The Smokie mountains are in East Tenn" The only place you hear the word in conversation is in phrases like "the meeting will be at tenn-thirty tomorrow."

Plus, they had one of those "Name this team!" promotions in 1997 when the team announced they were moving here...and the best they could come up with was "Diamond Jaxx" Just a horrible identity, horrible logo, completely ignoring some of the cultural aspects of the region.

Love them or hate them, the Montgomery Biscuits sold a ton of merchandise when they came into existance a few years ago. But the Jaxx...a plain green or black hat with a "J" on it. You live in Oregon and you collect minor league hats - would you buy one of the hats? I'm guessing probably not.

I always thought they should have played up the connection of the community to Casey Jones, the engineer. Have a hat logo of a mean looking locomotive screaming off the tracks. Maybe call the team the engineers, and have a jersey logo somehow incorporating a train track and crossing lights. Not that artistic so I never sketched it out, but I can see it in my head.

The team is for sale so (assuming the team stays in Jackson) they may have chance to rename/rebrand the team. Should jump-start sales of team-related items.

I believe the Diamond Jaxx are about to sign a new 3 year lease with the city of Jackson. Otherwise, they were going to play the 2006 season at Ole Miss. Jackson, TN is too small for a double A baseball team. Oxford is much, much, much smaller (even more so during the summer), but they would have drawn at least 2000 per game in the summer, even more on a weekend, I'd imagine. The possibilities could be endless assuming they'd allow beer sales (probably not on Sunday, though).

[Brick]

Just focusing on current, minor-league teams (pardon those which have already been listed)...

Baseball

Potomac Nationals

TWEET!

Potomac is actually a town -- it's just that it was enveloped by its surroundings. And the Nationals actually play 20 miles away in the town of Woodbridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potomac,_Virginia

The Potomac Nationals are named after the river, not any town. They used to be the Potomac Cannons and before that the Prince William Cannons after the county where Woodbridge, Virginia is located. The change from Prince William to Potomac came about because the owner was looking for a municipality to build him a stadium, but he wasn't moving too far away from the Potomac River. A new stadium is scheduled to be built next to the current one.

[Bucks6thMan]

Why yes. In fact (WARNING: Political content ahead), we have no U.S. senators.

The Timber Rattlers are not the only Wisconsin MWL team, so some might consider it a bit forward to appropriate the state name. Their predecessor team, the Appleton Foxes, once was known as the Fox Cities Foxes.

(Yes, I did not read the thread title before I wrote this.)

According to my cousin in Appleton, they decided to call themselves Wisconsin because they thought that calling themselves Appleton or Fox Valley would alienate people in Green Bay from considering the Foxes/T-Rats "their" team (kind of a San Fran/Golden State Warriors thing).

[bmoak]

Trying to avoid repeats.....

Hockey:

Adirondack Red Wings (AHL)

Adironack IceHawks (UHL)

Cape Codders (NAHL)

Chesapeake IceBreakers (ECHL)

Broome Dusters (NAHL/AHL) (Binghamton, NY)

B.C Icemen (UHL) (Binghamton, NY)

Capitol District Isladers (AHL) (Albany, NY)

PeeDee Cylcones (SPHL) (Florence SC)

Mohawk Valley Prowlers (UHL) (Utica, NY)

Mohawk Valley Comets (NAHL)

Rocky Mountain Rage (future CHL)

Kootenay Ice (WHL)

Central Texas Stampede (WPHL)

Twin Cities Vulcans (USHL)

North Iowa Huskies (USHL)

Long Island Ducks (EHL)

Long Island Cougars (NAHL)

Beauce Jaros (NAHL) (St. Georges, QUE)

Saguenay Fjord (LNAH)

Baseball:

Triple Cities Triplets (Binghamton/Endicott/Johnson City NY)

Somerset Patriots (Somerset County, NJ)

[Frylock]

I know many of these are older, but I recall from the Northwest League (Single A/Short Season) there were the...

Southern Oregon A's (Medford)

Southern Oregon Timberjacks (Medford)

the many teams fielded in Tri-Cities, Washington (see earlier in this thread)

Central Oregon Phillies (Bend, I believe)

and my personal favorite, the Blue Mountain Bears (Walla Walla)

There were probably some others, but those are the ones I remember without my resources in front of me.

[OMMF]

I know many of these are older, but I recall from the Northwest League (Single A/Short Season) there were the...

Southern Oregon A's (Medford)

Southern Oregon Timberjacks (Medford)

the many teams fielded in Tri-Cities, Washington (see earlier in this thread)

Central Oregon Phillies (Bend, I believe)

and my personal favorite, the Blue Mountain Bears (Walla Walla)

There were probably some others, but those are the ones I remember without my resources in front of me.

Let us not forget the Rogue Valley Dodgers, champions of the NWL in 1969.

[NickNickNick]

The CJFL team in Saskatchewan was once known as the Prairie Thunder, then changed to Regina Prairie Thunder, and is now just the Regina Thunder.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Trying to avoid repeats.....

Hockey:

B.C Icemen (UHL) (Binghamton, NY)

I don't know...doesn't Broome County count as an actual name, versus a region? I can see it both ways, actually. One being the actual location, the other being a representative of the cities of Binghamton, Endicott, Owego, Vestal, etc. It just seems like Broome County Ice Men seems to be a pretty precise location.

[bmoak]

Could be. I saw other people list county names, though. Almost never heard the team referred to as the Broome County Icemen (even at the Arena). Just B.C Icemen. And the Dusters were referred to the Binghamton Dusters for most of their history.

I suspect B.C was chosen instead of Binghamton not because of any desire to include a borader area in its fanbase, but because the logo was designed by local cartoonist of note Johnny "B.C." Hart. His stuff is all over the area: BC Open Golf Tounament, Broome County Parks, Broome County Community College.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Could be. I saw other people list county names, though. Almost never heard the team referred to as the Broome County Icemen (even at the Arena). Just B.C Icemen. And the Dusters were referred to the Binghamton Dusters for most of their history.

I suspect B.C was chosen instead of Binghamton not because of any desire to include a borader area in its fanbase, but because the logo was designed by local cartoonist of note Johnny "B.C." Hart. His stuff is all over the area: BC Open Golf Tounament, Broome County Parks, Broome County Community College.

Yeah...I was thinking along the same lines. I'm assuming Johnny Hart is from the area.

I guess it counts after all.

[zuck]

Well this is my first post. Didn't see the

Westchester Wildfire of the USBL:

Westchester Golden Apples USBL 1985-1986

Westchester Wizards EBA

[VirginiaTechSucks]

The soon to be gone Roanoke Valley Vipers of the UHL, I don't care what the Dixon's say if you only average 1500 fans a game and you need 4000 to break even you won't be back next year.