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Nicknames of Displaced Teams W/Less Importance


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The NBA seems to have the most, what are some others as well as other sports that have teams whose names meant one thing in their original city but not in their current location. . .

NBA

Los Angeles Lakers (Mpls. land of 10k lakes)

Atlanta Hawks (Tri-City Blackhawks, Chief Blackhawk)

N.O./O.K.C Hornets (Charlotte Hornets, rev. war)

Utah Jazz (New Orleans Jazz)

MLB

Atlanta Braves (Boston Braves/tea party?)

NHL

Dallas Stars (North Stars, I thought they should be the Dallas Lone Stars)

Others?

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San Diego Chargers (LA Chargers... no Rodeo Drive in SD)

Sacramento Kings (KC Kings, KC Royals, must be something royal there)

Arizona Cardinals (Chicago Cardinals, cardinals in Arizona?)

Los Angeles Dodgers (Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, trolleys in LA?)

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I think the worst one is the Utah Jazz. Doesn't even make sense.

One of my favorites is the Columbus Blue Jackets. I'm not a big fan of their unis or team or anything, but it's a great historic idea for a franchise. Makes perfect sense.

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San Diego Chargers (LA Chargers... no Rodeo Drive in SD)

Sacramento Kings (KC Kings, KC Royals, must be something royal there)

Arizona Cardinals (Chicago Cardinals, cardinals in Arizona?)

Los Angeles Dodgers (Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, trolleys in LA?)

Atuall they were the KC-Omaha Kings/Royals and before that they were the Cincinnati Royals

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San Diego Chargers (LA Chargers... no Rodeo Drive in SD)

Sacramento Kings (KC Kings, KC Royals, must be something royal there)

Arizona Cardinals (Chicago Cardinals, cardinals in Arizona?)

Los Angeles Dodgers (Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, trolleys in LA?)

Now they dodge bullets in L.A. :P

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Well, a charger is a horse. The Cardinals (as is the case with the baseball club and Stanford athletics) are named for the color, not the bird. The WFL team was officially the Memphis Southmen, but Memphians hated that name and simply took the Grizzlies moniker from the team logo The San Diego Rockets were so named because the city's slogan at the time was "A City in Motion" and I believe that the Atlas rocket was built in San Diego. In one of those happy accidents, the name just happened to make sense in Houston too.

Here's one for you: the Hartford Whalers. When they began life as the New England Whalers and played at the Garden, it made sense. But Hartford is hardly adjacent to the ocean. And I'm surprised that no one has pointed out the Colts. Baltimore, Pimlico, Preakness: Colts. Brilliant! Indianapolis Colts? That's why they're a chicken @$%& outfit and deserve to lose.

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Hartford isn't right on the ocean, but it's close enough to it that it the name isn't that much of a stretch. Los Angeles Clippers kinda works because a clipper's a boat and LA's on the ocean.

The worst has got to be the Utah Jazz. Utah's a land of mountains, salt flats and Mormons. If there's one jazz musician in that entire state I'd be surprised.

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Actually the Memphis Grizzlies was an old WFL, USFL, or Whatever-FL football team back in the 70s...I believe.

You're thinking of the Memphis Southmen of the WFL-(Which ironically was a moved franchise from Canada as well-the Toronto Northmen)

Reportedly the locals referred to them as the Grizzlies (because the logo was a snarling bear), and they applied for a NFL expansion team in the 70s with the name Grizzlies.

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The NBA seems to have the most, what are some others as well as other sports that have teams whose names meant one thing in their original city but not in their current location. . .

NBA

Los Angeles Lakers (Mpls. land of 10k lakes)

Atlanta Hawks (Tri-City Blackhawks, Chief Blackhawk)

N.O./O.K.C Hornets (Charlotte Hornets, rev. war)

Utah Jazz (New Orleans Jazz)

MLB

Atlanta Braves (Boston Braves/tea party?)

NHL

Dallas Stars (North Stars, I thought they should be the Dallas Lone Stars)

Others?

The Lone Stars? That's original. How can you pluralize "Lone Star"? :P

airheads.jpg

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I think a lot of these are a stretch. Granted, I'll give you Lakers and Hornets and Jazz, and there's obvious things like Memphis Grizzlies, but I don't think we should read too much into things like the San Diego Chargers or the Arizona Cardinals or the Hartford Whalers. I think some of these names "just are," like the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Yep, the Utah Jazz are particularly perplexing, particularly in a state in which there's an awful lot of "Honky" but little, if any "Tonk".

The Rams are another one. Somehow made sense in L.A., but are out-of-place in St. Lou. And it's anybody's guess how they got that name in Cleveland...

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Yep, the Utah Jazz are particularly perplexing, particularly in a state in which there's an awful lot of "Honky" but little, if any "Tonk".

The Rams are another one. Somehow made sense in L.A., but are out-of-place in St. Lou. And it's anybody's guess how they got that name in Cleveland...

The first GM was a Fordham Rams fan.

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NHL - Calgary Flames - formally the Atlanta Flames, which refered to when Sherman and company torched Atlanta during his march south towards the end of the civil war (or "the war between the states" i'm told)

They did solicit fan suggestions, and Flames was one of the top choices, the point of reference changed to gas/oil well flames.

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