The World's Most Ridiculous Non-Winning/Discarded Sports Team Names

[NorthStar74]

Funny enough about the Dallas Lone Stars name... I seem to remember reading that in the Hockey News from early 1993 or so... I think I have that article in that THN mag somewhere... unless I am mistaken...

[Island_Style]

Plus the Jacksonville Sharks were never owned by Wayne Weaver and his team. It was Jags all the way.

[_RH_]

Here's the full list of precursors to Avalanche:

[roxfan00]

The Denver Nuggets/Rockets were known as the Denver Larks in 1967 for 2 months before changing to Rockets.

[usahockeyrube]

One of the options for the Wild was going to be the Voyageurs.

[BallWonk]

One of the options for the Wild was going to be the Voyageurs.

Don't remind me. I loved that name. Polars was another option bandied about in public. I liked how Polars was a reference to the pole star, AKA the north star, which was both the name of the previous team and a play on the state motto of L'Etoile du Nord, or "Star of the North." Plus, the excellent bear's head wilderness logo would work equally well for the Polars. Even so, I preferred Voyageurs. A great name, unique, and a fitting northern-ey addition to the NHL at the height of the era of the U.S.-ization of the sport.

I like how the Wild look, even post-Edge, but I'm still a little bitter about the name. We went from North Stars to Moose to ... Wild? That's on a par with trading an Original Six NHL team for a WNBA expansion franchise.

[Lee.]

One of the options for the Wild was going to be the Voyageurs.

Don't remind me. I loved that name. Polars was another option bandied about in public. I liked how Polars was a reference to the pole star, AKA the north star, which was both the name of the previous team and a play on the state motto of L'Etoile du Nord, or "Star of the North." Plus, the excellent bear's head wilderness logo would work equally well for the Polars. Even so, I preferred Voyageurs. A great name, unique, and a fitting northern-ey addition to the NHL at the height of the era of the U.S.-ization of the sport.

I like how the Wild look, even post-Edge, but I'm still a little bitter about the name. We went from North Stars to Moose to ... Wild? That's on a par with trading an Original Six NHL team for a WNBA expansion franchise.

I still prefer "Blue Ox" to Wild, or any of the other potential team names for them.

But then again, I love Bemidji and Brainerd, so don't go by me.

[raz]

The names I listed came up when I searched the U.S. Trademark Office a couple years ago ... I searched NFL and NFL Properties and various NFL expansion groups. I am pretty sure that all of them were taken out either by the NFL or by competing expansion groups.

[JBPerry]

The Dallas Cowboys were briefly the Dallas Steers ... until somebody realized a steer was a castrated bull.

they were also thinking about becoming the Rangers

[Dilbert]

Before the team folded, the Adirondack Frostbite had a poll on what they should be called. Spelunkers, and Mulleteers (the team was partially owned by Barry Melrose) were 2 of the choices.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Here's the full list of precursors to Avalanche:

Very interesting pic. Makes you wonder "what if?"

[DrBear]

Before the Oakland Raiders got their names, they were announced as the Oakland Senors - as in Hola, senor (can't find how to post a tilde). That was the favored greeting of one of the original owners. Even passed out sombreros at the press conference. Imagine Al Davis running the Senors.

As for college ... Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix were originally the Bay Badgers; when they advanced to Division II, they held a vote for the current nickname. One of the losers was Killer Tomatoes.

[Viper]

Speaking of Houston, when the Oilers moved to Tennessee, they trademarked these:

Tennessee Vipers

Tennessee Tornados

Tennessee Pioneers

Tennessee Tradition

Tennessee Fury

Tennessee Wolves

Tennessee Commanders

Tennessee Presidents

Wasn't "Tornados" actually the front-runner for awhile, after the tornado that hit the stadium site during construction?

That would have made two Nashville teams named after something connected to their stadium construction site.

[Krona]

I remember an article about NBA expansion in the late 80s that had Jedi as a Miami Heat finalist.

[cmm]

Anyways, among other things, the Mets could've been named the NYBs.

I remember reading that, in the vote of the Board of Directors of the New York National League expansion team, the name "Mets" beat the name "Skyliners" by only one vote.

Interesting. I thought I read somewhere that Shea's Continental League team in New York was to have taken the Metropolitans name. But at the moment I cannot find any source for any proposed nickname for the CL cities.

And that brings up another rejected name for the Mets...the Continentals, in honor of Mr. Shea's proposed league I assume.

[neo_prankster]

I remember an article about NBA expansion in the late 80s that had Jedi as a Miami Heat finalist.

Are you serious?

I think you're pulling an old Jedi Mind Trick!

[CC97]

Weren't the Houston Astros close to a name change back in the late 1990s?

Also my dad tells me a story about the New England Patriots originally being the Bay State Patriots for a few days... anyone else know about this?

[BadSeed84]

Here's the full list of precursors to Avalanche:

Very interesting pic. Makes you wonder "what if?"

Well if they chose renegades, that would HAVE to come out to renegade by styx!

[PackerBadger]

Also my dad tells me a story about the New England Patriots originally being the Bay State Patriots for a few days... anyone else know about this?

I just heard about this one. Seems that "Bay State Patriots" got nixed when someone in the NFL offices noted what their initials would be.

Then again, those initials wouldn't have been that inappropriate, given the name of their owner of the time: Billy Sullivan.

[footballfiji]

The Dallas Cowboys were briefly the Dallas Steers ... until somebody realized a steer was a castrated bull.

So is a Longhorn. But that never stopped Texas