Name that Team

[KJTALBOT]

The corporation that owns the Detroit WHA team has a poll on its website to name the team.

Go to http://www.senticore.com to vote.

I dislike all the choices, some more than others.

Here are your options:

Detroit Drive

Detroit Sentinels

Detroit Cougars

Detroit Falcons

Detroit Vipers

Detroit Blades

Detroit Demons

Detroit Cobras

Michigan Motors

Michigan Mustangs

Detroit Demons has a healthy lead.

The Cougars and Falcons are names that were used before the Detroit NHL team became the Red Wings.

I don't think they are taking nominations but Detroit Dragons would be sweet.

[Frenchie]

"Demons" is in the lead...

I like Drive.

I usually like names that are not "pluralized": The Sun, the Jazz, the Lightning, the Wild, etc...

[nitroseed]

Those names all seem pretty generic, except for the Sentinels and the Drive. The Detroit Vipers have already existed in the form of an IHL franchise... though, I would suggest maybe taking that name a little further to what I used as a fantasy team name once, the Detroit Venom. The name is a nod to Dodge's high-end hot rod, the Viper, but the Venom is a Hennessy-powered upgraded version of the Viper, in the way of the SVT Mustang Cobra and such. Dodge (under the DaimlerChrysler umbrella) is based out of Auburn Hills.

I guess out of that list, Demons is a nice one, and holds an alliteration if you pronounce it DEE-TROIT like I do (maybe that's a southern thing).

[BBTV]

I like "Mustangs", but not the Michigan mokicker. I just don't like teams named after states or regions instead of cities. If they could change it to Detroit Mustangs, I think that would be cool.

[-kj]

Or the Motor City Mustangs?

And even better, the jerseys!

[Proc]

Detroit Drive - Done before with Detroit's first Arena Football League team.

Detroit Sentinels - no way.

Detroit Cougars - Early NHL team name before Red Wings. No.

Detroit Falcons - No, Atlanta's NFL team name doesn't below in Motown.

Detroit Vipers - Done that before with the IHL team of a few years ago.

Detroit Blades - Boring.

Detroit Demons - Decent. I think Motowners would take this as a compliment and a reflection of the town.

Detroit Cobras - Dumb.

Michigan Motors - Boring.

Michigan Mustangs - I agree with a previous poster...change this to "Detroit Mustangs" and we have a winner.

[Phil]

We've talked about this before, albeit in a thread not limited to just Detroit.

Look halfway down the page. Yzerfan's not thrilled with whole the process...

[MilTownMVP]

I like Michigan Mustangs... although I'd want them to keep the Michigan name if they're gonna play in the Silverdome. I know I wouldn't want a team in Waukesha or Mequon calling itself Milwaukee. Shoot, I'm not even a racing fan and I'm upset that the West Allis race track calls itself the Milwaukee Mile.

Anyway, back off my box... Mustangs is the best one out of that list, but I think they should've considered names of other cars made in Michigan like Firebirds, Thunderbirds or Camaros.

[-kj]

There is such a thing as a metropolitan area.

[slapshot]

Or the Motor City Mustangs?

And even better, the jerseys!

hmmm....purple, green and orange

where have I seen that?

[MilTownMVP]

There is such a thing as a metropolitan area.

So you'd have no problem with the St. Paul Vikings, correct?

[MilTownMVP]

Or the Motor City Mustangs? 

And even better, the jerseys!

hmmm....purple, green and orange

where have I seen that?

::Homer Simpson voice:: Mmmm... Laxtastic fake Mexican food ::drool::

[-kj]

That's not a good analogy at all, really. The metropolitan area here is either "the Twin Cities" or "Minneapolis/St. Paul"; I'd have no problem with either moniker on the teams. "Minnesota" is probably a bit of a stretch, but the teams around here have definitely done their marketing homework. (And, the Vikings play in Minneapolis, anyway.)

I just don't buy into the idea that something has to be enclosed within the city limits proper to be associated with that city. Often times, there isn't enough space within a city itself to put some of these things--auto racing tracks are a huge example, and conveniently you mentioned one. Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn't technically within the city limits of Indianapolis, should they change the name of the track, and for that matter, the race?

There's no way you're going to have teams named things like the Auburn Hills Pistons. Until a few years ago, should the Lakers have been the Inglewood Lakers? And, while people debate it constantly, do you really expect them to become the New Jersey Giants or Jets? No, no, no-no.

I'm not a fan of urban sprawl and the whiners that move out to a fourth-tier suburb here, complain they don't want to pay for city stuff, and then complain when they don't have enough gajillion-lane highways to drive their gas-wasting SUVs on. But, like it or not, the teams are going to be named after the big city--or, more appropriately, the metro area--if they're within the city's limits or if they're a few miles out.

(And I've been to West Allis. That's hardly uber-suburbia.)

[paynomind]

I think they should be the Bears.

...wait for it....

So you could have the Detroit teams: Lions, Tigers, and Bears.

oh, my.

[MilTownMVP]

That's not a good analogy at all, really. The metropolitan area here is either "the Twin Cities" or "Minneapolis/St. Paul"; I'd have no problem with either moniker on the teams. "Minnesota" is probably a bit of a stretch, but the teams around here have definitely done their marketing homework. (And, the Vikings play in Minneapolis, anyway.)

I just don't buy into the idea that something has to be enclosed within the city limits proper to be associated with that city. Often times, there isn't enough space within a city itself to put some of these things--auto racing tracks are a huge example, and conveniently you mentioned one. Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn't technically within the city limits of Indianapolis, should they change the name of the track, and for that matter, the race?

There's no way you're going to have teams named things like the Auburn Hills Pistons. Until a few years ago, should the Lakers have been the Inglewood Lakers? And, while people debate it constantly, do you really expect them to become the New Jersey Giants or Jets? No, no, no-no.

I'm not a fan of urban sprawl and the whiners that move out to a fourth-tier suburb here, complain they don't want to pay for city stuff, and then complain when they don't have enough gajillion-lane highways to drive their gas-wasting SUVs on. But, like it or not, the teams are going to be named after the big city--or, more appropriately, the metro area--if they're within the city's limits or if they're a few miles out.

(And I've been to West Allis. That's hardly uber-suburbia.)

No, they shouldn't be the Auburn Hills Pistons, but what's wrong with Michigan Pistons? The Angels became the California Angels when they moved to Anaheim. The Phoenix Cardinals became the Arizona Cardinals once they realized they'd be staying at Sun Devil Stadium for longer than expected. The D-Backs decided on the Arizona moniker too once they realized their home would be built in Glendale. We also have Florida Panthers for that reason (not quite in Miami).

As far as racetracks, I know that in general it's a give-in that they're never in the city they're named for (unless its some hick town like Bristol or Talladega) there's ways around that too. Isn't the one around Detroit called Michigan Motor Speedway? And the one in Joliet(?) is called Chicagoland Speeday, which IMO, is a perfect way of saying "near, but not quite in Chicago."

Now I can't say I know too much about Detroit, but from joel_fiasco's description in the other thread, it's almost the same as what goes on here. People from the "metro-area" (including West Allis, uber-burb or not) love to demonize Milwaukee. And these are the same jerkoffs who want to use tax dollars to expand the interstate while shooting down much more sensible light rail proposals. Why? So that us city-folk aren't a threat to swipe the jobs that are moving to the suburbs. It's also no coincidence that there's only one suburb with a significant Black population when Blacks make up close to, if not half, the central city population.

So the way I see it, if we're not good enough to work and live out there, then our teams should be too good to play out there as long as they carry our name.

[Suigi]

Ix-nay on Cougars or Falcons!

Those were names of the NHL Detroit franchise before it became the Red Wings, and I'm pretty sure the NHL still owns the names.

[TruColor]

The Phoenix Cardinals became the Arizona Cardinals once they realized they'd be staying at Sun Devil Stadium for longer than expected. The D-Backs decided on the Arizona moniker too once they realized their home would be built in Glendale. We also have Florida Panthers for that reason (not quite in Miami).

Just to clarify...

The Cardinals changed to "Arizona" because of the fact that other Arizona residents resented the fact that they represented Phoenix instead of the whole state. There seems to be a unique situation in the Phoenix area - each suburb wants its own identity. They hate being lumped into the whole Phoenix area. And, this is why the Diamondbacks use "Arizona" as well (they're in downtown Phoenix, not Glendale). Don't know why there hasn't been a push for the Coyotes to change (THEY'RE the ones in Glendale, along with the Cardinals in 2006).

The Florida Panthers are named after the endangered species the Florida Panther.

[Stampman]

I think they should be the Bears.

...wait for it....

So you could have the Detroit teams: Lions, Tigers, and Bears.

oh, my.

For some reason I love Wizard of Oz references--and it's nowhere near my favorite movie--but it's just so quotable...

[JamesCraven]

"Wanna play with fire, scarecrow?"

                                                                                -Dan Patrick, ESPN

Always good to quote a movie.

[Shmee]

The Phoenix Cardinals became the Arizona Cardinals once they realized they'd be staying at Sun Devil Stadium for longer than expected.  The D-Backs decided on the Arizona moniker too once they realized their home would be built in Glendale.  We also have Florida Panthers for that reason (not quite in Miami).

Just to clarify...

The Cardinals changed to "Arizona" because of the fact that other Arizona residents resented the fact that they represented Phoenix instead of the whole state. There seems to be a unique situation in the Phoenix area - each suburb wants its own identity. They hate being lumped into the whole Phoenix area. And, this is why the Diamondbacks use "Arizona" as well (they're in downtown Phoenix, not Glendale). Don't know why there hasn't been a push for the Coyotes to change (THEY'RE the ones in Glendale, along with the Cardinals in 2006).

The Florida Panthers are named after the endangered species the Florida Panther.

Phoenix is the second fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States, a close second to Las Vegas, just a few hours down the desert highway. The identity crisis might stem from all of the people moving into the suburbs around Phoenix, rather than inside the city limits itself. There was an established city, and now there's other areas growing up (very quickly) around it.