Problem with singular nicknames

[BrandMooreArt]

...until you try to call a player by it.

"He's proud to be a Magic? ...a Magician? ...a Magi? Hang on, it'll come to me..."

still not seeing a problem. "i'm proud to be part of the Magic . . ."

That's not the same thing.

When they have to talk around the subject, that tells me it's a terrible name.

you seem like the kind of person that enjoys doing math

[Tynamo]

...until you try to call a player by it.

"He's proud to be a Magic? ...a Magician? ...a Magi? Hang on, it'll come to me..."

I always assumed this one was similar to the Jazz...where an individual player is a Jazzman (entirely necessary link). Does no one want to be called "Magic Man?"

Maybe this guy...

You forgot El Diablo

[TBGKon]

Speaking of the Magic, it's weird to be in the same division with a team called the Wizards. Why couldn't they just call that team the Americans or something along those lines.

Because when they became the Wizards in the first place, they were in different divisions.

[Evil G]

I know. It's just I think the Wizards identity was bad in the first place. (They don't even use the Wizard as a primary)

[Xist2inspire]

...until you try to call a player by it.

"He's proud to be a Magic? ...a Magician? ...a Magi? Hang on, it'll come to me..."

"He's proud to be a member of the Orlando Magic."

[wonderbread]

I know. It's just I think the Wizards identity was bad in the first place. (They don't even use the Wizard as a primary)

They did before they rebranded to become the faux bullets/wizards/capitals

[joechicago]

Okay:

1. I refuse to lump all non-S team names in one pile. Jazz is a great nickname for a basketball team (wrong city, though). So are Crimson Tide and Thundering Herd for college sports. Moose would be an awesome nickname for a team. It's a bona fide plural. I also think Fish would be a great nickname for the right city. Same with Mice, Bison, Quail, and Salmon.

2. In general, the more abstract a noun, the worse the team's name. Magic is a terrible name. Heat is poor. Wild is ineffably bad.

3. The conversion of the Bullets to the Wizards was one of the most head-scratching transformations I've ever witnessed. A tragedy of the 90s NBA.

[Tynamo]

Okay:

1. I refuse to lump all non-S team names in one pile. Jazz is a great nickname for a basketball team (wrong city, though). So are Crimson Tide and Thundering Herd for college sports. Moose would be an awesome nickname for a team. It's a bona fide plural. I also think Fish would be a great nickname for the right city. Same with Mice, Bison, Quail, and Salmon.

2. In general, the more abstract a noun, the worse the team's name. Magic is a terrible name. Heat is poor. Wild is ineffably bad.

3. The conversion of the Bullets to the Wizards was one of the most head-scratching transformations I've ever witnessed. A tragedy of the 90s NBA.

I agree with 1. I actually like Magic and Heat (not the team though). Wild could be worse (Have you seen the other candidates?) As for 3, the change was almost necessary but it went in a horrible direction.

[Gothamite]

"They might have chosen something worse!" is a terrible defense.

2. In general, the more abstract a noun, the worse the team's name. Magic is a terrible name. Heat is poor. Wild is ineffably bad.

Good point.

[Xist2inspire]

Really, I don't think there's a better name for an Orlando sports team, especially an NBA one, than Magic. When choosing a name, singular or not, those in charge should ask themselves, "Does this work, or do we have to make it work?" The Magic works.

3. The conversion of the Bullets to the Wizards was one of the most head-scratching transformations I've ever witnessed. A tragedy of the 90s NBA.

Somebody's really gotta clue me in as to why the Wizards name is hated so much. Bullets was never that good of a name to me.

[joechicago]

A wizard is medieval science fiction concept, either a crazy person or a charlatan, who performs magic, which doesn't exist in real life, but already did exist in the Eastern Conference. So you have a stupid mascot, for which you inevitably get a stupid logo, that clashes with a conference rival's mascot. Seriously, when you think of basketball, do you think of Gandhof showing up to the tip-off? To top it off, they took a bold red and blue color scheme and replaced it with weak powdery blue and light gold to copy the exact same thing the Pistons did 2 years earlier, and a very similar scheme to the Grizzlies, who came into the league 2 years earlier. The Kings had recently dropped their blue and red color scheme in 1995 to go with purple and black, and the Sixers went black and gold in the same year. The Nets went to dark blue around the same time.

The Bullets name probably needed to change, although I think it's a great name for a basketball team (bullet passes, speed, etc.), but they were incredibly dumb for jumping on the bandwagon to dump blue and red as primary colors. Those colors fit with Washington, and anyone with a pulse could tell it was a fad to go to alternative colors.

Between the nickname selection (there are literally a hundred names that would work better) and the colors, I've never understood what the heck they were thinking aside from giving too much credence to amateur-hour marketing surveys of 12-year olds.

"It could be worse" is a bad defense of sports teams and socioeconomic situations.

[Xist2inspire]

I'm sorry if I come off as "combative" with this post....

A wizard is medieval science fiction concept, either a crazy person or a charlatan, who performs magic, which doesn't exist in real life, but already did exist in the Eastern Conference. So you have a stupid mascot, for which you inevitably get a stupid logo, that clashes with a conference rival's mascot. Seriously, when you think of basketball, do you think of Gandhof showing up to the tip-off?

No, but when I think about some of the great players in basketball's history, especially great point guards like Bob Cousy and Steve Nash, I think of a certain level of talent and skill that brings to mind another definition of "wizard," a extremely skilled person who seems to work "magic" with what he's given. And personally, I don't think of King Arthur dunking when I think of Sacramento Kings basketball.

The Magic/Wizards connection is fair enough, but other than that, it sounds like you're just saying "I think it's stupid, so it's stupid," which doesn't fly. I think the Pelicans is a silly name for a basketball team (oddly enough, I was in favor of Benson trying to get Voodoo, a singular name), but I've had lots of people tell me otherwise.

To top it off, they took a bold red and blue color scheme and replaced it with weak powdery blue and light gold to copy the exact same thing the Pistons did 2 years earlier, and a very similar scheme to the Grizzlies, who came into the league 2 years earlier. The Kings had recently dropped their blue and red color scheme in 1995 to go with purple and black, and the Sixers went black and gold in the same year. The Nets went to dark blue around the same time.

The Bullets name probably needed to change, although I think it's a great name for a basketball team (bullet passes, speed, etc.), but they were incredibly dumb for jumping on the bandwagon to dump blue and red as primary colors. Those colors fit with Washington, and anyone with a pulse could tell it was a fad to go to alternative colors.

1. "Powdery blue?" That's not how I'd describe the Wizards' shade of blue.

2. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Grizz were still rocking teal & red when the Wizards changed their colors. Not exactly what I'd call "a very similar scheme." Same thing with Detroit, not similar at all.

3. Funny thing is, the Wizards' recent change could be called a product of two fads: The "modern throwback" look (Sixers, Jazz, Bills, 49ers) and the gradual expansion of teams using either red, blue, some variant, or both in the NBA (Sixers, Hawks, Raptors, Pelicans, etc). It's pretty obvious that they were just following the crowd there, too.

4. Another funny thing is, the colors the Wizards adopted "fit" with Washington as well, as those were the colors of the presidential seal. The Capitals didn't adopt that scheme as well just for the hell of it, it fit even better with them. Creating a creative, unique color scheme that resonates with DC without falling into the "It's America, so RWB!" trap sounds like a good thing to me.

[oldschoolvikings]

A wizard is medieval science fiction concept...

A what now?

[BrandMooreArt]

Okay:

1. I refuse to lump all non-S team names in one pile. Jazz is a great nickname for a basketball team (wrong city, though). So are Crimson Tide and Thundering Herd for college sports. Moose would be an awesome nickname for a team. It's a bona fide plural. I also think Fish would be a great nickname for the right city. Same with Mice, Bison, Quail, and Salmon.

2. In general, the more abstract a noun, the worse the team's name. Magic is a terrible name. Heat is poor. Wild is ineffably bad.

i disagree completely. i think because these names are abstract, it makes them a little better than the usual. it allows your imagination to take over a bit and all of the connotations that come with the word can be appropriate. for example, Thunder: storm/lightning/rain, a stampeding heard, applause. . . it opens up a lot of stuff visually too. the identities can go so many ways. and for the Thunder specifically, the logos and unis have stayed abstract. regardless of the execution, the whole concept there i think is really strong. and i dont think there's many identities (color, type, name, uniform, marketing. . .) better than the Orlando Magic. i mean, talk about a name that fits in perfectly with it's city without being cheesy (too Disney) or cliche'

[Tynamo]

When I say it could be worse, I basically mean it's not that bad.

[joechicago]

4. Another funny thing is, the colors the Wizards adopted "fit" with Washington as well, as those were the colors of the presidential seal. The Capitals didn't adopt that scheme as well just for the hell of it, it fit even better with them. Creating a creative, unique color scheme that resonates with DC without falling into the "It's America, so RWB!" trap sounds like a good thing to me.

LOL. If those Wizards jerseys are supposed to mimic the Presidential Seal, they failed even worse than I thought.

[Gothamite]

He didn't say that, only that the colors had some resonance to Washington, even if they weren't the red/white/blue associated with the city by those of us who don't live there.

[Xist2inspire]

I did some reading, and I found that out of the four finalists in the Orlando name contest, only one was a plural.

Heat

Juice

Tropics

Magic

[BrandMooreArt]

I did some reading, and I found that out of the four finalists in the Orlando name contest, only one was a plural.

Heat

Juice

Tropics

Magic

and it was the owner's young daughter (9 ish maybe at the time?) who came up with Magic

[Gothamite]

And it shows.