All Time Worst Professional Sports Team Nicknames

[Darth Danielus]

Yeah....basketball and hockey seem like the "childish" leagues in comparison... Basically any new team thats joing either of those leagues is a big threat to be called "Xtreme", "Ballerz", "Force" or the like... If the Rays were still "Devil Rays" I'd give every team in the NFL and MLB a pass. 'Nationals' isn't great, but it isn't terrible either...'Redskins' is kinda iffy... As for the transplants - complaining about the Jazz or Lakers just seems dumb to me. The names are perfectly great, and I prefer that a team keep its name if it moves, if only to continue their history/heritage. Especially when said teams have a history worth preserving. The 'Clippers' is just bad though -- you're already the weak, ugly step-sister in your new market, and you keep the un-hip, un-cool whimpy name of your team with little history to speak of? Seems like a bad call.

[Quillz]

The Lakers are great but the name just doesn't work in LA. I like to joke they're named for the nearby Silver Lake, Toluca Lake and Lake Hollywood.

Utah Jazz doesn't fit, either. I've also never much cared for the "Denver Nuggets," it's just kind of a dumb name.

[Ink]

Any name that is singular like Heat, Magic, Thunder, etc. is no good in my opinion. Also, you count me among those that do not think a team name has to have something to do with the area. There probably aren't many wild bengal tigers running around Cincinnati but it's still a pretty cool name.

I don't think I made it clear at the beginning it's not because the name has nothing to do with it I just don't like the name at all and gave an half ass explanation. Two things I have learned since being here. 1 spell correctly and grammar is a must. 2 which I just learned research before speaking your mind

[LC]

For the record, the sabre-toothed tiger skeleton found in Nashville was in 1971 while constructing what is now the Regions Center. I'm not sure where everybody's getting the arena story.

Anyway, carry on with this masterpiece of a thread.

[Ink]

For the record, the sabre-toothed tiger skeleton found in Nashville was in 1971 while constructing what is now the Regions Center. I'm not sure where everybody's getting the arena story.

Anyway, carry on with this masterpiece of a thread.

That may justify why they are called that but it just fails in my opinion

[Darth Danielus]

How 'bout we list our favorites? Will be a much longer list methinks. Like I said, teams seem to get the name right even when the look is crapulent. Here are mine, in no particular order:

Toronto Maple Leafs

Baltimore Ravens

Oakland Raiders

Cleveland Browns

Baltimore Orioles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Penguins

Toronto Raptors

Toronto Blue Jays

Cincinnati Reds

Boston Red Sox

Chicago White Sox

Edmonton Oilers

Arizona Diamondbacks

Houston Astros

LA Dodgers

Boston Bruins

New Jersey Devils

Columbus Blue Jackets

St. Louis Blues

San Jose Sharks

Detroit Pistons

Portland Trailblazers

Denver Nuggets

Lotta good ones...I could name more.

[MDC]

I don't know if this has been done before so if it has I apologies. So while watching the Rays play the other day against the Rangers I was thinking of how bad their team nickname was, Rays really after a ray of sunshine, or even a devil ray, they have two things they are named after. This got me thinking of what other teams in professional sports have stupid and awful nicknames. So with out further ado I present my top 10 worst team names in professional sports.

10)Cincinnati Bengals/Detroit Tigers, not only are there no tigers in the Cincinnati and Detroit but there are no tigers in America at all

9)Detroit Lions, Same as number 10 except for lions

8)San Diego Padres, I know California has a huge mexican background but their logo is a Friar

7)Pittsburgh Penguins, one not intimidating, and two since when are there penguins in a populated city like Pittsburgh

6)Minnesota Vikings, since when are there Vikings in a state that is no where near an ocean, where vikings used to travel via boat!

5)Washington Wizards, Name is way too geeky

4)Whitesox, My main problem they don't wear white socks, also they can't even spell socks right

3)Toronto Raptors, Last time I checked dinosaurs are extinct

2)Nashville Predators, predators really? Their logo is a saber tooth tiger much like dinosaurs they are also extinct

1)Utah Jazz, Now this name would not be in the top ten if the team were still in New Orleans but how is Jazz associated with Utah?

I would have put a lot of college teams on this list but since there are like over 1000 different schools it would be too hard to choose

But counting college teams Williams College Purple Cows would be the all time #1 worst team nickname.

Reading this post actually made me angry. Needless to say, I disagree across the board. But it is a good thread idea, so here are mine:

Minnesota Wild

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Rays

LA Clippers

Orlando Magic

Oklahoma City Thunder

I can honestly say, as much as most of us have a long list of uni's and logos we hate, I generally think most team names are fine. Some are kinda boring, like 'Charlotte Bobcats', and Anaheim Ducks' doesn't exactly roll off the tounge. While I loathe the singular names as much as the next intelligent guy, for some reason the 'Miami Heat' never bothered me (name-wise, anyways) and I kinda like 'Colorado Avalalanche' for some reason.

Edit: - I don't mean to pile on; didn't see the last couple posts before I posted -- and like I said, it is a good thread idea. Props for that anyways...

That's weird, I also always thought Heat and Avalanche were the only good singular names, and I actually like them as names, unlike Thunder or LIghtning (very very firghtening) We see eye to eye.

[Darth Danielus]

I don't know if this has been done before so if it has I apologies. So while watching the Rays play the other day against the Rangers I was thinking of how bad their team nickname was, Rays really after a ray of sunshine, or even a devil ray, they have two things they are named after. This got me thinking of what other teams in professional sports have stupid and awful nicknames. So with out further ado I present my top 10 worst team names in professional sports.

10)Cincinnati Bengals/Detroit Tigers, not only are there no tigers in the Cincinnati and Detroit but there are no tigers in America at all

9)Detroit Lions, Same as number 10 except for lions

8)San Diego Padres, I know California has a huge mexican background but their logo is a Friar

7)Pittsburgh Penguins, one not intimidating, and two since when are there penguins in a populated city like Pittsburgh

6)Minnesota Vikings, since when are there Vikings in a state that is no where near an ocean, where vikings used to travel via boat!

5)Washington Wizards, Name is way too geeky

4)Whitesox, My main problem they don't wear white socks, also they can't even spell socks right

3)Toronto Raptors, Last time I checked dinosaurs are extinct

2)Nashville Predators, predators really? Their logo is a saber tooth tiger much like dinosaurs they are also extinct

1)Utah Jazz, Now this name would not be in the top ten if the team were still in New Orleans but how is Jazz associated with Utah?

I would have put a lot of college teams on this list but since there are like over 1000 different schools it would be too hard to choose

But counting college teams Williams College Purple Cows would be the all time #1 worst team nickname.

Reading this post actually made me angry. Needless to say, I disagree across the board. But it is a good thread idea, so here are mine:

Minnesota Wild

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Rays

LA Clippers

Orlando Magic

Oklahoma City Thunder

I can honestly say, as much as most of us have a long list of uni's and logos we hate, I generally think most team names are fine. Some are kinda boring, like 'Charlotte Bobcats', and Anaheim Ducks' doesn't exactly roll off the tounge. While I loathe the singular names as much as the next intelligent guy, for some reason the 'Miami Heat' never bothered me (name-wise, anyways) and I kinda like 'Colorado Avalalanche' for some reason.

Edit: - I don't mean to pile on; didn't see the last couple posts before I posted -- and like I said, it is a good thread idea. Props for that anyways...

That's weird, I also always thought Heat and Avalanche were the only good singular names, and I actually like them as names, unlike Thunder or LIghtning (very very firghtening) We see eye to eye.

Am I missing any other singulars? Jazz....ok in my books aswell. Both the heat and avs just kind of sound right when you say them, and are perfectly appropriate for their cities and sports. I know orlando is close to disney stuff....whatever, I still hate it. There's thunder in oklahoma city? ....still hate it (and "city" makes it about 156 times worse - Oklahoma Thunder wouldn't have been quite so offensive.) I think Minnesota Wild is the absolute worst of them all, despite there being "wild" things in that part of the world.

[dfwabel]

4)Whitesox, My main problem they don't wear white socks, also they can't even spell socks right

1.) This is my favorite ball club and I love the name.

2.) They actually did wear white socks at one point, go to this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/080701

It reads, "Speaking of the White Sox's wearing white socks, they sure haven't been living up to their name in recent years. But it wasn't always that way -- the Pale Hose wore pale hose throughout their first several decades of existence. But other colors began creeping in during the 1940s: first blue and then black. By 1951, black had become their primary sock color (a particularly odd choice, considering the Black Sox scandal of 1919)."

3.) The Red Sox don't spell it right, but does it matter? No, it's an abbreviation. I mean, as lazy as it is, why bother having three letters when you can have a simple, "x" to shorten the pronunciation? There doesn't need to be a bunch of scrutinization about this kinda stuff. As long as the team wins games (which they blew this year) I don't care what they call themselves.

I know it's tradition but I don't like a team named after a sock just like the Reds used to be called the Redlegs does not sound appealing to me

Therefore you hate many soccer teams of Europe?

FC Liverpool

Chelsea F.C.

AC Milan

S.S.C. Napoli

Anderlecht

[Ink]

Speaking of singular names how about the up and coming Connecticut Whale? I know the city of Hartford own the naming rights the the Whalers and that the Whalers were known as having the sub nickname The Whale but it just does not sound right being a team called Whale

[MDC]

I don't know if this has been done before so if it has I apologies. So while watching the Rays play the other day against the Rangers I was thinking of how bad their team nickname was, Rays really after a ray of sunshine, or even a devil ray, they have two things they are named after. This got me thinking of what other teams in professional sports have stupid and awful nicknames. So with out further ado I present my top 10 worst team names in professional sports.

10)Cincinnati Bengals/Detroit Tigers, not only are there no tigers in the Cincinnati and Detroit but there are no tigers in America at all

9)Detroit Lions, Same as number 10 except for lions

8)San Diego Padres, I know California has a huge mexican background but their logo is a Friar

7)Pittsburgh Penguins, one not intimidating, and two since when are there penguins in a populated city like Pittsburgh

6)Minnesota Vikings, since when are there Vikings in a state that is no where near an ocean, where vikings used to travel via boat!

5)Washington Wizards, Name is way too geeky

4)Whitesox, My main problem they don't wear white socks, also they can't even spell socks right

3)Toronto Raptors, Last time I checked dinosaurs are extinct

2)Nashville Predators, predators really? Their logo is a saber tooth tiger much like dinosaurs they are also extinct

1)Utah Jazz, Now this name would not be in the top ten if the team were still in New Orleans but how is Jazz associated with Utah?

I would have put a lot of college teams on this list but since there are like over 1000 different schools it would be too hard to choose

But counting college teams Williams College Purple Cows would be the all time #1 worst team nickname.

Reading this post actually made me angry. Needless to say, I disagree across the board. But it is a good thread idea, so here are mine:

Minnesota Wild

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Rays

LA Clippers

Orlando Magic

Oklahoma City Thunder

I can honestly say, as much as most of us have a long list of uni's and logos we hate, I generally think most team names are fine. Some are kinda boring, like 'Charlotte Bobcats', and Anaheim Ducks' doesn't exactly roll off the tounge. While I loathe the singular names as much as the next intelligent guy, for some reason the 'Miami Heat' never bothered me (name-wise, anyways) and I kinda like 'Colorado Avalalanche' for some reason.

Edit: - I don't mean to pile on; didn't see the last couple posts before I posted -- and like I said, it is a good thread idea. Props for that anyways...

That's weird, I also always thought Heat and Avalanche were the only good singular names, and I actually like them as names, unlike Thunder or LIghtning (very very firghtening) We see eye to eye.

Am I missing any other singulars? Jazz....ok in my books aswell. Both the heat and avs just kind of sound right when you say them, and are perfectly appropriate for their cities and sports. I know orlando is close to disney stuff....whatever, I still hate it. There's thunder in oklahoma city? ....still hate it (and "city" makes it about 156 times worse - Oklahoma Thunder wouldn't have been quite so offensive.) I think Minnesota Wild is the absolute worst of them all, despite there being "wild" things in that part of the world.

Magic is absolutely last on my list. Its just a dumb name. Plus, theres already a team named the wizards. Thats like the having the Washington Bullets when theres also a team named the Guns

[loogodude90]

^Not to take away from your opinion, but the Magic was there before the Wizards; if you want to call out a team on this issue, call out the Wizards.

[Ink]

4)Whitesox, My main problem they don't wear white socks, also they can't even spell socks right

1.) This is my favorite ball club and I love the name.

2.) They actually did wear white socks at one point, go to this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/080701

It reads, "Speaking of the White Sox's wearing white socks, they sure haven't been living up to their name in recent years. But it wasn't always that way -- the Pale Hose wore pale hose throughout their first several decades of existence. But other colors began creeping in during the 1940s: first blue and then black. By 1951, black had become their primary sock color (a particularly odd choice, considering the Black Sox scandal of 1919)."

3.) The Red Sox don't spell it right, but does it matter? No, it's an abbreviation. I mean, as lazy as it is, why bother having three letters when you can have a simple, "x" to shorten the pronunciation? There doesn't need to be a bunch of scrutinization about this kinda stuff. As long as the team wins games (which they blew this year) I don't care what they call themselves.

I know it's tradition but I don't like a team named after a sock just like the Reds used to be called the Redlegs does not sound appealing to me

Therefore you hate many soccer teams of Europe?

FC Liverpool

Chelsea F.C.

AC Milan

S.S.C. Napoli

Anderlecht

What? Are they all named after socks? I hate soccer for another reason and I won't get into why cause it has nothing to do with their names just that soccer is not a sport to me.

[Ink]

I don't know if this has been done before so if it has I apologies. So while watching the Rays play the other day against the Rangers I was thinking of how bad their team nickname was, Rays really after a ray of sunshine, or even a devil ray, they have two things they are named after. This got me thinking of what other teams in professional sports have stupid and awful nicknames. So with out further ado I present my top 10 worst team names in professional sports.

10)Cincinnati Bengals/Detroit Tigers, not only are there no tigers in the Cincinnati and Detroit but there are no tigers in America at all

9)Detroit Lions, Same as number 10 except for lions

8)San Diego Padres, I know California has a huge mexican background but their logo is a Friar

7)Pittsburgh Penguins, one not intimidating, and two since when are there penguins in a populated city like Pittsburgh

6)Minnesota Vikings, since when are there Vikings in a state that is no where near an ocean, where vikings used to travel via boat!

5)Washington Wizards, Name is way too geeky

4)Whitesox, My main problem they don't wear white socks, also they can't even spell socks right

3)Toronto Raptors, Last time I checked dinosaurs are extinct

2)Nashville Predators, predators really? Their logo is a saber tooth tiger much like dinosaurs they are also extinct

1)Utah Jazz, Now this name would not be in the top ten if the team were still in New Orleans but how is Jazz associated with Utah?

I would have put a lot of college teams on this list but since there are like over 1000 different schools it would be too hard to choose

But counting college teams Williams College Purple Cows would be the all time #1 worst team nickname.

Reading this post actually made me angry. Needless to say, I disagree across the board. But it is a good thread idea, so here are mine:

Minnesota Wild

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Rays

LA Clippers

Orlando Magic

Oklahoma City Thunder

I can honestly say, as much as most of us have a long list of uni's and logos we hate, I generally think most team names are fine. Some are kinda boring, like 'Charlotte Bobcats', and Anaheim Ducks' doesn't exactly roll off the tounge. While I loathe the singular names as much as the next intelligent guy, for some reason the 'Miami Heat' never bothered me (name-wise, anyways) and I kinda like 'Colorado Avalalanche' for some reason.

Edit: - I don't mean to pile on; didn't see the last couple posts before I posted -- and like I said, it is a good thread idea. Props for that anyways...

That's weird, I also always thought Heat and Avalanche were the only good singular names, and I actually like them as names, unlike Thunder or LIghtning (very very firghtening) We see eye to eye.

Am I missing any other singulars? Jazz....ok in my books aswell. Both the heat and avs just kind of sound right when you say them, and are perfectly appropriate for their cities and sports. I know orlando is close to disney stuff....whatever, I still hate it. There's thunder in oklahoma city? ....still hate it (and "city" makes it about 156 times worse - Oklahoma Thunder wouldn't have been quite so offensive.) I think Minnesota Wild is the absolute worst of them all, despite there being "wild" things in that part of the world.

Magic is absolutely last on my list. Its just a dumb name. Plus, theres already a team named the wizards. Thats like the having the Washington Bullets when theres also a team named the Guns

What about the Warriors their name now has nothing to do with their new logos

[The_Admiral]

Ten bad names:

10. Denver Nuggets - It's not so silly as to transcend typical sports nomenclature and be in a class of its own (Montgomery Biscuits), it just comes off as uncomfortably pejorative and kind of weird.

9. Texas Rangers - It takes a lot of balls to claim a gigantic state for yourself when someone was already there for ten years, but I guess Dallas would be the place for that. Still, any "Dallas ____" name would've been better.

8. Nashville Predators - If you had to satiate Middle Tennessee's unquenchable thirst for the NHL with a team named for your famous fossil, you must've been able to do better, right? In a way, it's kind of generic and Madden Create-a-Teamy, and in another way it's uniquely ruined by internet creeps and Catholic priests.

7. Orlando Magic - Typical lame singular. Experiment: if you say "my favorite sports team is the Magic!" out loud, you can kind of sound like Ralph Wiggum.

6. Tampa Bay Lightning - Another lame singular, right down the road. "Thunderbolts" would've been a mouthful, but still an improvement if everyone's calling them the "Bolts" anyway. You can get another singular off the books this way.

5. Carolina Hurricanes - I kinda figured the U had the name to themselves in the minds of Americans, plus it's not good to name a team for a meteorological enemy of the region.

4. Anaheim Ducks - Always kind of silly, but the cognitive dissonance of a team named for a placid animal that went around gooning everyone to death really hurts.

3. Atlanta Thrashers - This one is interesting because they went for something XXXTREME and intimidating, as many '90s expansion teams did, and then found themselves rendering an extremely intimidating sparrow.

2. Minnesota Wild - youth soccer

1. Oklahoma City Thunder - the worst

[hockey week]

I really hate "Golden State" Warriors. There's nothing wrong with "Warriors", but Golden State? That's 20 times worse than having a state as your location. That just as always really irked me.

To address the questions involving Red Sox and White Sox, etc., I've been doing a lot of research lately, and I got a chance to read a collection of hockey clippings from 1898-99, and every team was referred to by their colors. Yale came to Pittsburgh and were consistently referred to as "the blues", and the Pittsburg Athletic Club as "the reds" and such. Pitt was once referred to as "blue and gold stripers". There definitely was good reason for those names to stick. Dip into an archive sometime, it's really interesting stuff.

I've never gone beyond these, but I think these are the all time worst team names ever. Can anybody top these?

3. California Golden Seals - NHL - 1970-73 - It's about as silly a name as I can think of, and this was a modern era thing. I know these was a baseball team named the San Francisco Seals back in the day, but this one is worse because of its modernity. This doesn't strike fear into anybody (like a Bears or Lions, etc), doesn't have any sense of respect (names like Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Red Sox...something kinda stoic...even Nationals) or anything particularly locally representative (like Blues or Islanders...or at least, as far as I know they don't)

2. Pittsburg Innocents - NL - 1890 - When the Pittsburg Alleghenys (that's the correct spelling) stole Lou Bierbauer from the Philadelphia Athletics through a technicality, they were accused of being "Piratical" which led to the name Pittsburgh Pirates. Before that name stuck, in order to clear their name, they called themselves the "Innocents", because they did no wrong. It was a much lighter time in sports, where changing names didn't mean changing 400,000 different products for sale

1. Dayton Triangles - NFL - 1920-29 - There doesn't seem to be a reason for the name choice, but it sure does strike fear! (sarcasm). The team might have won the first ever NFL game, but began to rapidly decline and due to incredibly poor home ticket sales, they became mostly a traveling team. According to wikipedia, this team indirectly relates to the Indianapolis Colts, if you count the remnants of defunct teams being awarded to new owners and cities as continuity.

Can anybody beat those? Golden Seals, Innocents, Triangles?

[Brian in Boston]

3. Atlanta Thrashers - This one is interesting because they went for something XXXTREME and intimidating, as many '90s expansion teams did, and then found themselves rendering an extremely intimidating sparrow.

Actually, they simply named themselves after the Georgia state bird.

[Discogod]

I don't know if this has been done before so if it has I apologies. So while watching the Rays play the other day against the Rangers I was thinking of how bad their team nickname was, Rays really after a ray of sunshine, or even a devil ray, they have two things they are named after. This got me thinking of what other teams in professional sports have stupid and awful nicknames. So with out further ado I present my top 10 worst team names in professional sports.

10)Cincinnati Bengals/Detroit Tigers, not only are there no tigers in the Cincinnati and Detroit but there are no tigers in America at all

9)Detroit Lions, Same as number 10 except for lions

8)San Diego Padres, I know California has a huge mexican background but their logo is a Friar

7)Pittsburgh Penguins, one not intimidating, and two since when are there penguins in a populated city like Pittsburgh

6)Minnesota Vikings, since when are there Vikings in a state that is no where near an ocean, where vikings used to travel via boat!

5)Washington Wizards, Name is way too geeky

4)Whitesox, My main problem they don't wear white socks, also they can't even spell socks right

3)Toronto Raptors, Last time I checked dinosaurs are extinct

2)Nashville Predators, predators really? Their logo is a saber tooth tiger much like dinosaurs they are also extinct

1)Utah Jazz, Now this name would not be in the top ten if the team were still in New Orleans but how is Jazz associated with Utah?

I would have put a lot of college teams on this list but since there are like over 1000 different schools it would be too hard to choose

But counting college teams Williams College Purple Cows would be the all time #1 worst team nickname.

Reading this post actually made me angry. Needless to say, I disagree across the board. But it is a good thread idea, so here are mine:

Minnesota Wild

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Rays

LA Clippers

Orlando Magic

Oklahoma City Thunder

I can honestly say, as much as most of us have a long list of uni's and logos we hate, I generally think most team names are fine. Some are kinda boring, like 'Charlotte Bobcats', and Anaheim Ducks' doesn't exactly roll off the tounge. While I loathe the singular names as much as the next intelligent guy, for some reason the 'Miami Heat' never bothered me (name-wise, anyways) and I kinda like 'Colorado Avalalanche' for some reason.

Edit: - I don't mean to pile on; didn't see the last couple posts before I posted -- and like I said, it is a good thread idea. Props for that anyways...

That's weird, I also always thought Heat and Avalanche were the only good singular names, and I actually like them as names, unlike Thunder or LIghtning (very very firghtening) We see eye to eye.

Am I missing any other singulars? Jazz....ok in my books aswell. Both the heat and avs just kind of sound right when you say them, and are perfectly appropriate for their cities and sports. I know orlando is close to disney stuff....whatever, I still hate it. There's thunder in oklahoma city? ....still hate it (and "city" makes it about 156 times worse - Oklahoma Thunder wouldn't have been quite so offensive.) I think Minnesota Wild is the absolute worst of them all, despite there being "wild" things in that part of the world.

Magic is absolutely last on my list. Its just a dumb name. Plus, theres already a team named the wizards. Thats like the having the Washington Bullets when theres also a team named the Guns

What about the Warriors their name now has nothing to do with their new logos

Other than using a Native American logo in the 50's/early 60's and the '97-'10 abomination, none of the Warriors' logos have had a lot to do with the name. They've always been more of a graphical representation of the area.

[illwauk]

Thanks for the gang bang bashing guys nice to know I'm loved.

<snicker>

You all for got to give me a remark about the Purple Cows, so I'm sure sooner or later someone will. Thanks for letting me realize I just wasted like 30 min of my life thinking of team names I hate all for nothing *SIGH* Just to be clear out of every professional team you all like everyone's nickname?

You're catching a bunch of crap because you'd know that pretty much every nickname on your list makes perfect sense if you'd have bothered to do some research. Just to give an example, the Tigers got their name because they wore black socks with orange stripes... guess what animal that made reporters think of?

[IceCap]

Enough people have pointed out the problems with Ink's list. I'll just list my Top 10 worst nicknames. Keeping it at the pro level.

10) Edmonton Eskimos/Washington Redskins- Lets leave the racially insensitive names in the past guys.

9) New Jersey Nets- Named after equipment.

8) Tampa Bay Lightning- I don't have a problem with singular nicknames in general, but this one just seems worse then others.

7) San Jose Earthquakes- If ever there was a nickname that would be improved by switching to the singular, it's this one.

6) Kansas City Wiz- Kansas City, though in Missouri, does have a tie-in with the name Wizards though the Kansas association and the Wizard of Oz. The name Wizards works. The name Wiz? 90s EXTREME thinking taken to its (il)logical conclusion.

5) Tampa Bay Devil Rays- I know a lot of people got on this team's case for dropping "Devil" from the name, but Tampa Bay Devil Rays always sounded like it trying to hard to be clever. It was just way to long for its own good, really. Tampa Bay Rays is, in my opinion, a net improvement.

4) Washington Senators- Yes, the Senate is located in Washington DC, but really. The District of Columbia itself has no senators to represent it.

3) Montreal Concordes- Grapes? Really?

2) Washington Wizards- A well meaning attempt to distance the club from gun violence lands us with a silly nickname and terrible logo package. Bullets was never anything special, but it was certainly better then Wizards. Unlike Kansas City's MLS team, Washington's NBA team really had no reason to go with the name Wizards other then a failed attempt to shake up their image for the kids.

1) Mighty Ducks of Anaheim- Between the childish nickname that sounds like something an ECHL club would use to draw in kids and the "of Anaheim" style of designating the city, the whole name (and the identity) was a mess. I'm not one to invoke the "hockey gods," but they had to be watching when they kept this team from winning the Cup before they switched to something more acceptable for a National Hockey League organization.