Nicknames that work better (or just as good) in other cities.

[LMU]

MLB

- San Antonio Padres

I don't know about that one. The mission influence is huge in California. Heck, Mission San Diego was the first one established in CA by Padre Junipero Serra.

[chargersfan]

Ok here a few

NBA:

Miami Suns

LA Suns

NFL:

San Diego Dolphins (because of the famous San Diego Zoo)

MLB:

Colorado Brewers

St. Lewis Brewers (you know where I'm going w/ this one)

No dolphins in the San Diego Zoo. You're thinking of Sea World. I get your point though. Dolphins would work.

[illwauk]

For example, Lakers would work better in Chicago, Cleveland or Milwaukee since all 3 are on one of the Great Lakes.

How about DETROIT? Although it may not border an actual Great Lake, the Detroit River is attached to Lake Erie, and, other than that, it's Michigan! The great lakes state! How could you make a list of cities with whom the name "Lakers" would work and leave out the major city of the state with the Great Lakes?

Because (as you said) Detroit's not actually on a lake whereas the other cities I named are. For the Lakers name to work in Detroit, you'd have to call them the "Michigan Lakers" (which isn't a bad name either).

Detroit is still a Great Lakes city in the same sense that Phily is an East Coast city, but neither of them actually has a shoreline (unless you count rivers).

[leopard88]

Yankees -- Boston (heaven forbid)

There was an NFL team called the Boston Yanks in the 1940s.

I said YANKEES, not YANKS

*How did I forget about that?*

Baltimore Clippers. (Although I think a minor league team did that).

Yes there was old hockey team here called the Clippers. They actually had a pretty cool logo too:

Also there will be a new arena football team in 2008 called the Baltimore Mariners (as mentioned earlier in the thread). They are replacing the Baltimore Blackbirds in the AIFA.

I always loved that logo.

And how is it that I never hear about the arena football teams around here. I had barely heard of the Blackbirds before they began play, didn't know they were gone and hadn't heard anything about the Mariners.

[oz615]

Ok here a few

NBA:

Miami Suns

LA Suns

NFL:

San Diego Dolphins (because of the famous San Diego Zoo)

MLB:

Colorado Brewers

St. Lewis Brewers (you know where I'm going w/ this one)

No dolphins in the San Diego Zoo. You're thinking of Sea World. I get your point though. Dolphins would work.

Stupid Me,thanks for the clarification on that on

[Gothamite]

Talking for a moment about team names that are incongruous with their location, I've always thought that "Clippers" is a great name - and very appropriate for any city on a sizeable body of water. But Columbus, Ohio? Never understood that one - was it a "pirate" reference (their first parent club)?

Similarly, though I've been a fan since I was a kid, "Admirals" doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Milwaukee. I know they were named after a refrigerator company, but they've used naval iconography since almost the beginning. Captains, I can see. Anything that's generic seafaring would work. But the US Naval presence in Wisconsin is fairly minimal. Were there any famous Admirals from Wisconsin, the Navy equivalent of General Billy Mitchell?

Maybe the Admirals should become the Clippers. There's some historical precedent for it....

[BallWonk]

For example, Lakers would work better in Chicago, Cleveland or Milwaukee since all 3 are on one of the Great Lakes.

And just to get it out of the way, let's avoid situations where a city inherited a team that was named with its previous home in mind (like Dodgers working better in Brooklyn, Jazz working better in New Orleans, etc.).

You do realize that your prime example violates your rule about inherited names, and that the Lakers came to LA from Minneapolis? The civic motto of which is, "City of Lakes," whose name actually means, in bastardized Lakota/Greek, "Lake City," and which is the largest city in a state known informally as "Land of 10,000 Lakes" and whose name means, in Bastardized Lakota, "Land of Sky-Blue Lakes". Just, you know, FYI.*

Since you negate your own rule, I'm going to harp on my favorite example of this phenomenon. Neither the LA Dodgers nor the San Francisco Giants quite work as team names in their respective cities. But switch the two, and San Francisco Dodgers becomes one of the most appropriate local team names in baseball, and LA Giants is at least close to capturing the spirit of its city too.

*And if this comes off as overly harsh, my apologies. Any bitterness or venom on my part related to the Lakers name is directed solely at the team, not the reader nor at Ilwauk.

[SabreGuy]

Talking for a moment about team names that are incongruous with their location, I've always thought that "Clippers" is a great name - and very appropriate for any city on a sizeable body of water. But Columbus, Ohio? Never understood that one - was it a "pirate" reference (their first parent club)?

I was always told it had some connection to Joe DiMaggio (The "Yankee Clipper") though there doesn't seem to be too much to support it historically, other than a brief incident where Columbus was going to be the Yankee farm club in 1955 before circumstances caused the Yankees to look elsewhere... but it appears the team was called the Jets then. The Clippers website doesn't seem to have anything telling me the history of their nickname, which is disappointing.

EDIT: Actually, looking at it more, it looks like they were called the Jets until at least the 1970's. When did they become the Yankees' affiliate? The change could have been made then.

EDIT AGAIN: Still reading. Jets left in 1970, Clippers born in '77. Yankee affiliation in '79... so of course that makes no sense.

FINAL EDIT: OK, I'm driving myself crazy with this and I need to get back to work. I'm going to assume it is a poor reference to Christopher Colombus' carracks/caravels and be done with it. Freaking Columbus team... be more forthcoming about your nickname! *shakes fist of doom*

[rams80]

And how is it that I never hear about the arena football teams around here. I had barely heard of the Blackbirds before they began play, didn't know they were gone and hadn't heard anything about the Mariners.

Because the AIFA is too small and bush league for most people to give them the time of day. You didn't miss much.

[rams80]

Similarly, though I've been a fan since I was a kid, "Admirals" doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Milwaukee. I know they were named after a refrigerator company, but they've used naval iconography since almost the beginning. Captains, I can see. Anything that's generic seafaring would work. But the US Naval presence in Wisconsin is fairly minimal. Were there any famous Admirals from Wisconsin, the Navy equivalent of General Billy Mitchell?

After "cheating" and checking wikipedia....

Admiral Marc Mitscher is from Hillsboro.

[Gothamite]

Talking for a moment about team names that are incongruous with their location, I've always thought that "Clippers" is a great name - and very appropriate for any city on a sizeable body of water. But Columbus, Ohio? Never understood that one - was it a "pirate" reference (their first parent club)?

I was always told it had some connection to Joe DiMaggio (The "Yankee Clipper") though there doesn't seem to be too much to support it historically, other than a brief incident where Columbus was going to be the Yankee farm club in 1955 before circumstances caused the Yankees to look elsewhere... but it appears the team was called the Jets then. The Clippers website doesn't seem to have anything telling me the history of their nickname, which is disappointing.

EDIT: Actually, looking at it more, it looks like they were called the Jets until at least the 1970's. When did they become the Yankees' affiliate? The change could have been made then.

EDIT AGAIN: Still reading. Jets left in 1970, Clippers born in '77. Yankee affiliation in '79... so of course that makes no sense.

FINAL EDIT: OK, I'm driving myself crazy with this and I need to get back to work. I'm going to assume it is a poor reference to Christopher Colombus' carracks/caravels and be done with it. Freaking Columbus team... be more forthcoming about your nickname! *shakes fist of doom*

Yeah, that's been driving me crazy, too.

Maybe they just liked the alliteration.

[powersurge]

Talking for a moment about team names that are incongruous with their location, I've always thought that "Clippers" is a great name - and very appropriate for any city on a sizeable body of water. But Columbus, Ohio? Never understood that one - was it a "pirate" reference (their first parent club)?

I was always told it had some connection to Joe DiMaggio (The "Yankee Clipper") though there doesn't seem to be too much to support it historically, other than a brief incident where Columbus was going to be the Yankee farm club in 1955 before circumstances caused the Yankees to look elsewhere... but it appears the team was called the Jets then. The Clippers website doesn't seem to have anything telling me the history of their nickname, which is disappointing.

EDIT: Actually, looking at it more, it looks like they were called the Jets until at least the 1970's. When did they become the Yankees' affiliate? The change could have been made then.

EDIT AGAIN: Still reading. Jets left in 1970, Clippers born in '77. Yankee affiliation in '79... so of course that makes no sense.

FINAL EDIT: OK, I'm driving myself crazy with this and I need to get back to work. I'm going to assume it is a poor reference to Christopher Colombus' carracks/caravels and be done with it. Freaking Columbus team... be more forthcoming about your nickname! *shakes fist of doom*

I think you'd be correct sir.

[jhans203]

NFL:

San Diego Dolphins (because of the famous San Diego Zoo)

Don't you mean SeaWorld, there's a world of difference between the two.

[BlueSky]

Hurricanes would certainly work in New Orleans, though it would have ended up being pervertedly ironic with Katrina and all.

Buccaneers would work there too...oh wait, it already did:

I actually saw them play. Yeah, I'm older than most on this board I think.

[B-Rich]

This topic got me remmebering a silly little article I wrote WAY back in the mid 1990s about the appropriateness of team names moving to New Orleans... gotta be around here somewhere... AHH yes-- found it:

NEW ORLEANS AND THE NAME GAME

Over the years, New Orleans has heard a lot of talk about being the destination for a relocating sports franchise. In the seventies, it looked like we were going to get a major league baseball franchise-- either the Cleveland Indians or the Oakland A?s. Just last year, it looked like we were going to get the NBA?s Minnesota Timberwolves, but that deal fell through. And recently, there has been talk of bringing the NHL?s Quebec franchise to town. Never mind the issue of playing hockey where the heat index is 100 degrees and the people don?t know a puck from a penalty box. The real problem would be the team name -- the Nordiques. Like New Orleans, Quebec is an area with a strong French heritage (the team?s jerseys even feature the fleur de lis, just like the Saints? helmets). The name ?Nordiques? is French as well, but it means ?northerners?--that certainly doesn?t fit here. The team logo even features a stylized igloo, something we won?t see in New Orleans for a while. My advice to team officials if they relocate here is to keep the fleur-de-lis, but lose the name and logo.

The Nordiques situation got me to thinking -- of all the teams they have which could have moved here or can move here, how well would their names fit? ?Timberwolves? really wouldn?t have fit. It would have been almost as bad as our former basketball team?s inappropriate moniker, ?Utah Jazz?-- but ?Zephyrs? has fit in well with this city, due in part to the fond memories of the old rollercoaster at Pontchartrain Beach. I thought it would be interesting to look at possible teams to relocate here, and how their current names would fit our city:

Baseball:

Cleveland Indians: There was talk of the Indians moving to the newly-constructed Superdome back in the seventies. They could?ve fit right in with a twist on the logo, as Mardi Gras Indians, rather than Native Americans.

Oakland A?s: This was the team that Charlie Finley was supposedly going to move here in the seventies. It?s a rather generic name that has worked in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland. It would help if they added a trace of purple to the green and gold color scheme, though.

California Angels: If the Angels moved here, their name would be a natural complement to the Saints. We?d be the heavenliest city in pro sports.

Montreal Expos: This name may have worked back in 1984, but would sound sort of goofy today. Besides, everyone here called it ?da Fair? rather than ?da Expo?, anyway.

Seattle Mariners: This team almost moved to Tampa Bay, where the name also would have fit in. With our port and nautical history, this name would be very appropriate here as well.

Basketball:

Sacramento Kings: This is a rather generic name, but could fit with our city excellently by referring specifically to ?Kings of Carnival?. Maybe we could even serve king cake as a concession at games.

Miami Heat: Boy, this name is appropriate for New Orleans. It?s always oppressively hot here. A better variation would be if we renamed the team the Humidity. Rather than the flaming basketball logo, we could have one which was dripping sweat. Our first year ad campaign would be, ?It?s not the Heat, it?s the Humidity.?

New Jersey Nets: Although this refers to the basketball nets, maybe we could change the reference to the many nets used in our seafood industry: shrimp trawls, cast nets, and if we really wanted to be au courant and scary we could even have the (in)famous gill net in our logo.

Los Angeles Clippers: The boat motif is nice and fits in with our surrounding waters, but Clippers are more ocean-going vessels. Something more in tune with the river would work better for New Orleans-- say, ?Steamers?, or ?Showboats?, or best of all, ?Non-Sailing Gaming Vessels?.

Washington Bullets: With New Orleans becoming the murder capital of the country, I can think of no more appropriate name that this one.

Hockey:

Los Angeles Kings: See Sacramento under basketball.

Edmonton Oilers: Before the oil bust of few years back, this name would have been very appropriate. Now, we?d need something that represents our new biggest industry: ?New Orleans Tourists? (oops, sorry -- need to be socially correct: New Orleans ?Visitors?).

St. Louis Blues: Not bad, as we are supposedly one of the homes of the blues, but we are the undisputed home of Jazz, and that?s a much better nickname.

Anaheim Mighty Ducks -- With Louisiana?s many hunters and reputation as the ?Sportsman?s Paradise?, this name could fit well here. But to give it a local flavor, we could change the name to the ?Poules d?Eau Formidables?.

Funny, two of the teams mentioned have relocated and one has been re-nicknamed since I wrote that....

[Gothamite]

Funny, two of the teams mentioned have relocated and one has been re-nicknamed since I wrote that....

Considering that you were writing about teams who were seriously considering relocating, I think the real wonder is that only two of the teams mentioned have relocated....

[rams80]

A couple of ideas on that article....

1) Could they have simply renamed the Nords the "Sudiques"?

2) If MLB ever would have come to New Orleans, how likely is it that they would have resurrected the Pelicans identity? (Or does Tom Benson still have the rights to that?)

[Gothamite]

Oh, they should revive it. For the minor league club, if nothing else.

This stuff is great!

[BlueSky]

Oh, they should revive it. For the minor league club, if nothing else.

This stuff is great!

Agreed. My dad was a bat boy for the Pelicans in the early 30's. They played at a field where the Fontainebleau Hotel was later built.

[OMMF]

The OKC Wranglers thread got me thinking what teams nicknames would fit in just as well, or even better, in another city.

For example, Lakers would work better in Chicago, Cleveland or Milwaukee since all 3 are on one of the Great Lakes.

And just to get it out of the way, let's avoid situations where a city inherited a team that was named with its previous home in mind (like Dodgers working better in Brooklyn, Jazz working better in New Orleans, etc.).

Lakers wouldn't work good in michigan? because thats not on a great lake or anything.

Nothing works "good" anywhere. Things work well in a lot of places, though.