It's Official, Rays considering name change

[Survival79]

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Fans pitch new name ideas for Rays

By JON WILSON, Times Staff Writer

Published April 26, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Thunder, Sting Rays or Tarpons: Stout nouns all, suggesting feisty spirit, a scary threat or merely a lot of noise.

They also represent the most popular possibilities for a new Tampa Bay Devil Rays nickname, at least according to an opinion poll offered on the St. Petersburg Times Web site, www.tampabay.com.

Last month, the Devil Rays told Major League Baseball they would consider a name change. The team has until May 31 to commit to one. If they do adopt a new moniker, it would take effect next season.

Meanwhile, fans took their swings with the online poll.

Their votes totaled 2,209.

The root question - should the Devil Rays change their name? - brought an affirmative response. The tally was 1,484 to 725, which probably qualifies as a landslide.

But the breakdown gets more interesting. Most poll respondents wanted the Devil out of the details.

Of those who favor change, 639 voters, or about 29 percent of the total, want to dump the Devil part. Just call the team the Rays, they said.

The others wanting change, 845 voters, favor a new name entirely.

The 725 status-quo voters represented slightly less than one-third of the voters. Leave the team's name alone, they said.

Here comes the part certain to provoke loud raspberries or encourage sage nods: the new nicknames people suggested.

Thunder was the name most frequently mentioned (15 votes) followed by Sting Rays and Tarpons with 11 apiece. Others in the top 10 included the Rough Riders, the Sharks, the White Caps and the Sun Rays.

Substituting St. Petersburg for Tampa Bay created a small splash. Ten voters suggested the St. Pete Pelicans; four others liked the St. Pete Suns.

None of the poll-taking is binding on anyone, of course. It's up to the Devil Rays' management and Major League Baseball to decide.

As they contemplate, St. Petersburg will watch and wait.

Call us, if you will, the Bated Breathers.

[Brendan]

I think Tampa Bay Devil Rays is a great name and id bee dissapointed to just the rays. I remember the blue jays wanted to called just the jays.

[The_Admiral]

I think whatever they do, they should change to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg built their crappy dome, but people associate them with Tampa instead. It'll also downplay the whole Yankee thing, just a hair.

[swilson160]

Tarpons seems too close to something else, especially if they keep the Tampa Bay name. Tampa Tarpons? Tampa Bay Tarpons? It'd be like naming your kid Vagena.

[Mac the Knife]

Does anyone else find it disturbing that less than 2,500 people participated in this poll? You'd think if they had anything of a fan base, there'd be at least 5K respondents.

[BBM]

Does anyone else find it disturbing that less than 2,500 people participated in this poll? You'd think if they had anything of a fan base, there'd be at least 5K respondents.

I was just thinking the same thing.

[TBGKon]

I think whatever they do, they should change to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg built their crappy dome, but people associate them with Tampa instead.

nobody associates the team with the city of Tampa, Tampa Bay is the region that encompasses the area of Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater and all counties in the general vicinity.

[CC97]

I remember the blue jays wanted to called just the jays.

Ironic because when they entered the league they wanted to just be called the Blues...

I heard some story about MLB poo-pooing the name because Labatt's owned the team and they had a beer called Labatt's Blue (I believe that happened to the Grizzlies in the NBA as well when it was rumoured FedEx would rename them the "Memphis Express").

I hate singular nicknames, but I think it would be cool to see them named the Thunder... you'd have the Thunder and Lightning representing the Tampa Bay region, perfect for the thunderstorm capital of the united states.

[Mac the Knife]

I hate singular nicknames, but I think it would be cool to see them named the Thunder... you'd have the Thunder and Lightning representing the Tampa Bay region, perfect for the thunderstorm capital of the united states.

And let's not forget the Storm of AFL fame.

[pooter]

I hate singular nicknames, but I think it would be cool to see them named the Thunder... you'd have the Thunder and Lightning representing the Tampa Bay region, perfect for the thunderstorm capital of the united states.

Funny that you would say that. Last night on the news at 11:00 PM, they said that it had not rained here since April 9th. In March, we went almost the whole month without rain except for one day where it rained for about 10 minutes.

But on the other hand, there have been those nasty hurricanes.

[WBGMike]

don't know if it has been said or not but I heard that the team might get renamed the Possums since they get killed on the road and play dead at home

[Gothamite]

Does anyone else find it disturbing that less than 2,500 people participated in this poll?  You'd think if they had anything of a fan base, there'd be at least 5K respondents.

I was just thinking the same thing.

Not surprising, but still disappointing.

[KJTALBOT]

St. Pete Pelicans!

[CubsFanBudMan]

Does anyone else find it disturbing that less than 2,500 people participated in this poll?  You'd think if they had anything of a fan base, there'd be at least 5K respondents.

I was just thinking the same thing.

Not surprising, but still disappointing.

Not sure that the 2,500 people voting in an online newspaper poll is any indicator of the team's fanbase. Who knows how it was promoted on their site or in the paper (or even if promotion in the paper drives online clicks).

There's a poll on the front page of ChicagoTribune.com about the Bulls that has 1980 votes -- does that mean their fanbase is smaller than the Devil Rays?

I don't think one has anything to do with the other. The Rays' fanbase is small, yes. But it has nothing to do with how many people voluntarily vote in a poll online.

[pflava]

Thunder would be o.k. for a hockey team or an arena football team, but it REALLY doesn't work as a major league baseball name.

Tarpons isn't bad, but it's a little too similar to Marlins.

I kind of like St. Petersburg Pelicans.

[Batfan1400]

If I were picked to rename Tampa Bay's baseball team,it would be......

the "TAMPA BAY STING RAYS!!!!!

This is how I would design the home/away/bp uniforms;

a black hat with italic bluish-green"TB"on a yellow/medium blue trim+manta-ray below.

HOMES-white tops with slanted "StingRays"in bluishgreen trimmed in yellow outined

in medium royal blue+a black manta ray above the script.

The sleeves would have thick blue-green stripe.

The white pants stripe would be the same as the sleeves.

The stirrups and undershirts would be blue-green.

AWAYS-gray tops with slanted "TampaBay" in the same colors as homes+the

manta ray below.The sleeve/pants stripes would be blue-green.

The stirrups and undershirts would be black.

BATTING PRACTICE-a black cap with/blue green bill and button with black manta ray

pointed SE inside of a yellow sun outlined in blue.

the jerseys would be blue green with a blue stirpe on each sleeve.

the no's would be yellow with a blue shadowed outline.

The shoes/cleats would be black for all team's uniforms.The BP hat logo

can be used on the left sleeve on both home/away unis.

The numerals on both sets will be the same as the scripts.

The last names on the back would be black.

Here are the colors I picked and the reasons why I did so

Black-for the devil ray Royal Blue-for the water/ocean

Yellow-for the sun Blue-Green color of the algea/plant life(if i had to guess)

I would use the Miami Dolphins' mid-1970's-96 script+Jax Jags similar color scheme.

I'm done for now.The End.

[pooter]

I kind of like St. Petersburg Pelicans.

I 99.999% guarentee that the team will not becalled the St. Petersburg __________. That will not happen and has already been rejected by the ownership.

[Gothamite]

Does anyone else find it disturbing that less than 2,500 people participated in this poll?  You'd think if they had anything of a fan base, there'd be at least 5K respondents.

I was just thinking the same thing.

Not surprising, but still disappointing.

Not sure that the 2,500 people voting in an online newspaper poll is any indicator of the team's fanbase. Who knows how it was promoted on their site or in the paper (or even if promotion in the paper drives online clicks).

There's a poll on the front page of ChicagoTribune.com about the Bulls that has 1980 votes -- does that mean their fanbase is smaller than the Devil Rays?

I don't think one has anything to do with the other. The Rays' fanbase is small, yes. But it has nothing to do with how many people voluntarily vote in a poll online.

I stand corrected - I misread it, and thought it was a poll on the Rays' website itself.

A newspaper website is something else altogether.

[The_Admiral]

I think whatever they do, they should change to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg built their crappy dome, but people associate them with Tampa instead.

nobody associates the team with the city of Tampa, Tampa Bay is the region that encompasses the area of Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater and all counties in the general vicinity.

But Tampa Bay has "Tampa" in it. Most people don't know the difference, you see. They think there's a city called Tampa Bay. Go with St. Pete for a change, because "Tampa Bay" has a connotation of absolute futility in baseball.

[cth1770]

When the team was first considered, Stingrays was among the choices, but a minor league team (?!?) owned the rights.

From the St. Petersburg Times, 3/1/1995:

Naimoli said he was "a long way down the track" on choosing a team name, along with team colors and a logo. "It's something totally unique yet reflects all good things in the area," Naimoli said. `No one will guess it."

The name won't be Stingrays. Naimoli recently made an unsuccessful offer to buy rights to that name from the Hawaii Winter League, which has a team called the Maui Stingrays, according to league executive director Bob Berg.

"It's a valuable trademark for us, and we did not want to part with it," Berg said from Honolulu. "They made an offer, but it was not something that was tenable. It was certainly not as much as we would have liked. They said they had other solutions rather than pay us what the mark may be worth. We wish them the best of luck."

The Hawaii league is a private independent league that operates under MLB sanction.

So, a NICKNAME can be protected? What about all the Tigers, Bears and Giants out there? I don't get it.