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What Your Favorite Team Might Have Been Called?


Saint Zephyr III

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Some of these are familiar to a normal member on this site, but some of these are just stunning to realize that professional businessmen actually entertained the THOUGHT of these.

http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/...ives/21090.html

Here's the nutshell version of each.

1. Toronto Raptors - Though obviously a name of its time (just two years after Jurassic Park), it looks like it was the best choices. The other considered names were Tarantulas, Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Scorpions, T-Rex, and Terriers. Terriers???

2. Vancouver Grizzlies - They actually wanted to be called the Vancouver Mounties; however, the actual Mounties declined them the right to name them after them.

3. Baltimore Ravens - The other two finalist names were the Americans and the Marauders. I still think the Ravens is one of the more inspired sports team-names out there.

4. New York Jets - In 1963, when they decided to change the name from the Titans, Sonny Heilben and Leon Hess first considered the Dodgers, but the MLB didn't like that. They then wanted to call them the "Gothams" (AWESOME name) but feared that people would shorten it to Goths. They even thought of calling them the New York Borros, a reference to the famous boroughs of the area. But then they realized that the opponents call use it as a pun for burro; essentially calling them the New York Jackasses.

5. Washington Wizards - In 1995, the organization wanted to changed the Bullets to something not associated with gang violence. The finalists were the Wizards, Stallions, Express, Dragon, and Sea Dogs.

6. San Antonio Spurs - Once they moved from Dallas, the Chaparrals temporarily called themselves the Gunslingers, more than a decade before the USFL team. But they changed it to the more friendly Spurs.

7. Florida Marlins - Marlins owner Huigenzia actually told the New York Times that he considered calling the team the Florida Flamingos!

8. Orlando Magic - The other candidates were the Heat, the Tropics, and god help me, the Juice.

9. The Charlotte Hornets - They were originally going to be called the Charlotte Spirit, though they changed it to Hornets in honor of the city's resistence of British forces during the Revolutionary War. Then why the goofy mascot?

10. Minnesota Wild - The NHL team was almost called the Blue Ox, the Freeze, the Voyageurs, the Northern Lights, or the White Bears.

11. New York Mets - Before playing on the field in 1962, they considered the Skyliners, the Skyscrapers, the Bees, the Burros, the Continentals, and the Jets.

...Thank God we didn't have to see the Orlando Juice. *shudder*

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Why did they never consider the name "Huskies" when they were going about naming Toronto's new NBA team? They played in the first ever NBA game after all.

According to Wikipedia, that if they picked Huskies their logo would look similar to the Timberwolves. So that's why they ditched it.

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Toronto Terriers, Toronto Huskies, and Vancouver Mounties are all vastly superior to the names that were eventually chosen.

New York Gothams would have been cool, but that's about the only other name on that list that I like better than what was chosen. And that's saying something, because I HATE the nickname "Wild".

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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Some of these are familiar to a normal member on this site, but some of these are just stunning to realize that professional businessmen actually entertained the THOUGHT of these.

http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/...ives/21090.html

5. Washington Wizards - In 1995, the organization wanted to changed the Bullets to something not associated with gang violence.

This was the lead-in line to one of Jay Leno's best jokes ever. He said something like, "Washington's basketball team no longer wants to have the part of their name that people associate with murder and violence, so now they'll just be called the Bullets." :D

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Apparently two other "organic" nicknames for the Packers in their early days were "Indians" (for the Indian Packing Co... their original sponsor that got bought out by Acme Packing) and "Blues" (for their original color).

Makes you wonder what might have been if "Indians" was solidified now that the Oneida Nation is one of the Packers main sponsors.

Apparently one of the original suggestions for the team now known as the Milwaukee Bucks was "Skunks." On what planet is naming your team after an animal known for its pungent scent a good idea? FWIW, I always thought "Hops" would be the perfect name for a hoop squad in Milwaukee.

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Around the time the Grizzlies were going be announced, I remember there being a lot of talk in Vancouver that they were going to be called the Ravens.

I heard Orcas was another option. Obviously, well before the Canucks started using an orca as their primary.

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Yeah, I like the Hops.

"Orlando Juice" sounds too close to "Orlando Jews," and who knows what kind of fountain of jokes that would've been.

I like "Dallas Chaparrals" so so sooooooooo much. That's what I wish the Texas Rangers were called. A Bush owning the Chaparrals. How hardily verdant.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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Some folks may not care for the name "Colorado Avalanche," but considering how close we were to having the "Rocky Mountain Xtreme," we should consider ourselves quite lucky.

The XFL's Birmingham Thunderbolts were originally going to be called the "Blast." Fortunately, someone pointed out the history of Birmingham as it related to blasts in the 1950s and '60s, and the change was made. The logo, however, stayed the same, giving us one of the more awesome helmets in recent memory.

On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said:

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12.

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