Columbus Catfish now Bowling Green Hot Rods

[JaMike81]

yeah me too, and i think the Mammoth could actually have a chance.

It would be cool wearing shirts, and hats, with a team you named(500 dollars in merchandice for winner)

But what would i do with season tickets for a team 10 hours away from where i live

I submitted the name "Bowling Green Mammoths" on the official website, as I used to be stationed at Fort Knox (since they only allow KY residents to vote). It does sadden me a little that the Catfish are leaving since I spent six years at Fort Benning, GA which is in the Columbus area. I visited a number of Columbus Catfish games, but it is true that they bring in Basic Trainees from Benning to boost their attendance. If it wasn't for the Basic Training soldiers, the attendance would be a little over 1,000. Those numbers are bad since the Columbus metro area has 276,000 people, and the ballpark is just over the US 280 bridge from the Alabama suburbs.

[JaMike81]

I just got this:

Dear Mr Pirrung,

Excitement is growing as the stadium construction continues to progress!

You have spoken and we have heard you! We received an overwhelming amount of team names in our initial name the team contest entry. We have now narrowed that huge list down to seven of the most popular and exciting names entered. Of course we also had to include names that we could legally trademark and use as our own for the new team name.

Starting this Monday, August 18, you can choose your favorite name out of the final seven. To cast your vote please go to http://www.bowlinggreenprobaseball.com and click on your favorite name. The voting will run through Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

This is your team so have fun and let your vote be counted!

The winning team name will be announced sometime in October and one of you that entered the winning team name will receive two season tickets for the inaugural 2009 season and $500 worth of new merchandise!

Thanks for your participation. Let the voting begin.....

Warmest Regards,

Brad Taylor

GM/CEO

Bowling Green Professional Baseball

[myklandkevin]

yeah me too, and i think the Mammoth could actually have a chance.

It would be cool wearing shirts, and hats, with a team you named(500 dollars in merchandice for winner)

But what would i do with season tickets for a team 10 hours away from where i live

I submitted the name "Bowling Green Mammoths" on the official website, as I used to be stationed at Fort Knox (since they only allow KY residents to vote). It does sadden me a little that the Catfish are leaving since I spent six years at Fort Benning, GA which is in the Columbus area. I visited a number of Columbus Catfish games, but it is true that they bring in Basic Trainees from Benning to boost their attendance. If it wasn't for the Basic Training soldiers, the attendance would be a little over 1,000. Those numbers are bad since the Columbus metro area has 276,000 people, and the ballpark is just over the US 280 bridge from the Alabama suburbs.

thats fine with me me

[mfoster]

The Bowling Green Corvettes for the Corvette plant and museum there. I think it is what they are best known for.

I really like the Corvette idea too, but I was trying to think of a way to go with the car theme without being called the Corvettes or Vettes.

As a landlocked market, outsiders would raise an eyebrow to "Stingrays" or "Makos"... but as a something of a Vette purist, I'd bristle because those models weren't built at Bowling Green, which didn't start production until the 1982 model year.

So going off a different variety... Bowling Green Sledgehammers, perhaps? http://www.fastcoolcars.com/callaway_sledgehammer.htm

[dodongo]

The Bowling Green Corvettes for the Corvette plant and museum there. I think it is what they are best known for.

I really like the Corvette idea too, but I was trying to think of a way to go with the car theme without being called the Corvettes or Vettes.

As a landlocked market, outsiders would raise an eyebrow to "Stingrays" or "Makos"... but as a something of a Vette purist, I'd bristle because those models weren't built at Bowling Green, which didn't start production until the 1982 model year.

So going off a different variety... Bowling Green Sledgehammers, perhaps? http://www.fastcoolcars.com/callaway_sledgehammer.htm

I can't agree more about the "Makos" and "Stingrays" comment. All around town, there are Vette sculptures painted in a variety of wacky ways. All of the are the 1957(?) Vette, which was never made in BG. It really bothers me each time I see one.

Being a BG resident, I'm excited about the team coming to town but saddened that the current set the team wears will go away; I think it looks very sharp. As for a name? Perhaps "Armpits" because Bowling Green is sort of an armpit for Nashville and, to a much lesser extent, Louisville.

Bowling Green is also a refugee city. We have many folks from Bosnia/Croatia, and others from a variety of nations.

Perhaps some sort of Civil War tie in would be apt, being BG was the Confederate capital of Kentucky.

But all of this will probably be for naught, I really can't see the team succeeding here. I'm not sure how much support there is for the WKU baseball team, but I never personally hear much about it. Sure, a nice stadium will be an experience over the field at WKU but I don't see that holding a regions attention for long.

Hilltopper basketball and football (went to D1 last year) are #1 in town, hopefully the Bowling Green "insert name here* will be able to carve out a niche.

[BigShoop]

Good thing I didnt buy that peach-hook hat earlier this year......

[Blackjack76]

Team names posted today:

Bowling Green Speedsters

Speedsters combines Bowling Green's automotive heritage with the speed of Minor League Baseball pitching. Imagine fast cars, fast players and fast pitches!

Bowling Green Cave Shrimp

Bowling Green?s Mammoth Cave is home to the endangered Kentucky Cave Shrimp, a sightless albino shrimp. The blind cave shrimp has been registered as an endangered species since 1983.

Bowling Green Hot Rods

For years, Hot Rods have raced on the drag strip at Bowling Green?s Beech Bend Park. The area hosts the annual Hot Rod Reunion and Buick Grand Nationals. Hot Rods celebrates the Corvette heritage and the city?s love of motorsports.

Bowling Green Bluegills

Many Bowling Green citizens fish in the nearby Barren River for Bluegill, a freshwater fish notorious for nibbling and stealing bait off a fisherman's hook.

Bowling Green Turbos

Turbo is the key ingredient to giving an automobile more power! And a turbo-charged team will be taking the field at a high rate of speed!

Bowling Green Sparkplugs

Sparkplugs celebrates the Corvette heritage and the city?s love of motorsports, while embracing the fun kind of team name Minor League Baseball is known for.

Bowling Green Mammoths

Mammoth Cave is the longest underground cave system known in the world. Mammoths celebrates Bowling Green?s connection with the cave region, while providing great mascot opportunities.

My take...Mammoths and six crappy alternates.

[myklandkevin]

lmao, the mammoths actually got in the finals!

Where do you vote? Its not on the teams website

[Brian in Boston]

In my opinion, Mammoths is easily the best choice, with Bluegills and Sparkplugs decent alternatives. The rest are crap.

[BallWonk]

My take...Mammoths and six crappy alternates.

I'd call it Mammoths, three adequate alternates, and three crappy alternates. Speedsters, Cave Shrimp, and Hot Rods are unforgivably bad team names. (One of them will, therefore, win any fan poll, and more than likely become the team name.) But Bluegills is a fine name that would allow the team to keep the general look and feel of its current identity, which would be a very good development. Sparkplugs wouldn't be my choice for a team name, but it's in keeping with the trend toward youth-sports-marketable minor league names, and it has a lot of potential to be a good team identity with the right design effort. Turbos is about as good a non-trademarked reference to the Chevy plant as I've heard.

Either one of the latter two is at least as good as "Pistons," which few regard as a crappy pro team name. (Nor do I hear a lot of complaints about "Aeros" or "Sonics" or "Astros", which are all very similar to "Turbos" in meaning and form.)

Mammoths is still my favorite of the lot, but bad design or muddled management decisionmaking regarding the team's identity could ruin the Mammoths identity just as easily as it could a Bluegills, Sparkplugs, or Turbos identity. All four of those names have good potential, though, making this an unusually strong team-name shortlist.

[dodongo]

My take...Mammoths and six crappy alternates.

I'd call it Mammoths, three adequate alternates, and three crappy alternates. Speedsters, Cave Shrimp, and Hot Rods are unforgivably bad team names. (One of them will, therefore, win any fan poll, and more than likely become the team name.) But Bluegills is a fine name that would allow the team to keep the general look and feel of its current identity, which would be a very good development. Sparkplugs wouldn't be my choice for a team name, but it's in keeping with the trend toward youth-sports-marketable minor league names, and it has a lot of potential to be a good team identity with the right design effort. Turbos is about as good a non-trademarked reference to the Chevy plant as I've heard.

Either one of the latter two is at least as good as "Pistons," which few regard as a crappy pro team name. (Nor do I hear a lot of complaints about "Aeros" or "Sonics" or "Astros", which are all very similar to "Turbos" in meaning and form.)

Mammoths is still my favorite of the lot, but bad design or muddled management decisionmaking regarding the team's identity could ruin the Mammoths identity just as easily as it could a Bluegills, Sparkplugs, or Turbos identity. All four of those names have good potential, though, making this an unusually strong team-name shortlist.

I see a better package coming from the name "Bluegills" than "Mammoths". The rest are pretty crappy, IMHO. FWIW, there doesn't seem to be much buzz about the team yet around here.

[Arts11]

i wish they'd keep the catfish. that logo is gorgeous

[Cooleyvol]

i wish they'd keep the catfish. that logo is gorgeous

Bluegill is a type of catfish, so the logo could be kept with that name.

[Discrim]

Speedsters-the way I see it, a couple ways to go: endearingly corny 50's look, or something more modern

Cave Shrimp-so these things are blind, huh? baseball fans routinely question whether certain blue (or black)-clad men share this affliction.

Hot Rods-see Speedsters, only uber-modern would definitely fail.

Bluegills-could probably work with a logo similar to the Catfish...maybe replacing the peach with a chicken leg?

Turbos-this would fit a place known for Indy or Nascar racing better. that said, the right design will make it more palatable than it otherwise would be.

Sparkplugs-actually, this might work. A 1950s autoshop look would probably best suit the name.

Mammoths-I can't help but think of those one year wonders, the Frontier League's Kenosha Mammoths.

[dodongo]

i wish they'd keep the catfish. that logo is gorgeous

Bluegill is a type of catfish, so the logo could be kept with that name.

Bluegill isn't a catfish. Catfish are bottom feeders, Bluegill are found mainly in the shallows near shore.

[Brian in Boston]

[TBGKon]

Team names posted today:

Bowling Green Speedsters

Speedsters combines Bowling Green's automotive heritage with the speed of Minor League Baseball pitching. Imagine fast cars, fast players and fast pitches!

Bowling Green Cave Shrimp

Bowling Green?s Mammoth Cave is home to the endangered Kentucky Cave Shrimp, a sightless albino shrimp. The blind cave shrimp has been registered as an endangered species since 1983.

Bowling Green Hot Rods

For years, Hot Rods have raced on the drag strip at Bowling Green?s Beech Bend Park. The area hosts the annual Hot Rod Reunion and Buick Grand Nationals. Hot Rods celebrates the Corvette heritage and the city?s love of motorsports.

Bowling Green Bluegills

Many Bowling Green citizens fish in the nearby Barren River for Bluegill, a freshwater fish notorious for nibbling and stealing bait off a fisherman's hook.

Bowling Green Turbos

Turbo is the key ingredient to giving an automobile more power! And a turbo-charged team will be taking the field at a high rate of speed!

Bowling Green Sparkplugs

Sparkplugs celebrates the Corvette heritage and the city?s love of motorsports, while embracing the fun kind of team name Minor League Baseball is known for.

Bowling Green Mammoths

Mammoth Cave is the longest underground cave system known in the world. Mammoths celebrates Bowling Green?s connection with the cave region, while providing great mascot opportunities.

My take...Mammoths and six crappy alternates.

If it were up to me, this would be my order of preference:

- Mammoths

- Bluegills

- Turbos

- Hot Rods

- Sparkplugs

- Speedsters

- Cave Shrimp

[Puck]

Can't look at that without seeing it fold in face, towards the screen and start singing "Take Me To The River."

[Brian in Boston]

Can't look at that without seeing it fold in face, towards the screen and start singing "Take Me To The River."

That's what the Bowling Green Bluegills' mascot will lead the crowd in singing during the seventh-inning stretch.

[myklandkevin]

Can't look at that without seeing it fold in face, towards the screen and start singing "Take Me To The River."

That's what the Bowling Green Bluegills' mascot will lead the crowd in singing during the seventh-inning stretch.

hahaha i found that hillarious