Worst sports team name?

[mizerable]

May 31, 2013 0:21:37 GMT -5 Seth Drakin of Monster Crap said:

Charlotte Bobcats are going to be named the Charlotte Hornets soon as the New Orleans Hornets are planning on becoming the New Orleans Pelicans. While there are a lot of true facts about why the team was named Bobcats, the most interesting one is a rumor that the team was named after it's original owner Robert "Bob" L. Johnson, who founded BET.

When the Toronto franchise formed, people wanted to name them the Toronto Huskies, which was the name of the original franchise that was there, but the people could not come up with a logo that would not have any semblance to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Out of ten final name options, they chose Raptors after the popularity of the film Jurassic Park. The other names were Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, and Terriers.

Thunder is a fitting moniker for the Oklahoma City franchise, not only as a reference to powerful storms in the area known as Tornado Alley. The Oklahoma City-based 45th Infantry Division carries Thunderbirds as its nickname, and that's a reference to the state's American Indian heritage. Even one of Oklahoma native Garth Brooks' biggest hits was "The Thunder Rolls."

Interestingly enough Kansas City was where the Kings were before they moved to Sacramento.

The Orlando Magic name started strangely enough because the original owner's daughter said of Orlando, "I really like this place. This place is like Magic."

Miami Heat actually defeated the other finalist, the Miami Vice. Don't ask me why they didn't go with the Miami Vice.

NBA actually has a part of their site that talks about why stuff was named if you have any questions. Unfortunately this was before the Seattle Supersonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder so you won't get any answer on that.

www.nba.com/features/behind_the_name.html

Knew about the Pelicans, but if Charlotte becomes the Hornets again, awesome! Hell, Hugo the mascot was easily one of the best mascots ever, including his badass entrances from the ceiling. It's too bad that NO has to go with Pelicans, since they truly are a nasty bird, I wish they would just be the Jazz...and Utah can stick with the music them and just be the Utah MoTab.

I have no problem with the Raptors name, it's just more fitting of some place like Utah, hence me moving the entire goddamn league all over the place for no other good reason.

I knew they Kings used to be in Kansas City...and still should be. There, I said it.

The Miami Vice would have been a badass name. And the owner's daughter to the Magic is a f***ing idiot.

And no matter how much explanation goes into the Thunder name, it's still a lame name to me. I lived in OKC growing up and while there were plenty of thunderstorms, that was always the least of my worries, plus I've seen equally nasty storms elsewhere on a regular basis. The thing is, if they ever wanted to pack up and move elsewhere, it would be easy to carry the name over. Oklahoma had many things memorable about it that it could have used as a means of a cooler name.

[Rican]

.....damn, Oklahoma Outlaws WOULD be a cool f***ing name.

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

Not just one team but in general I find it very stupid that because of the All Blacks that just about every other national sports team from New Zealand must have black as part of its name.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

[Deleted]

May 31, 2013 1:03:15 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

"Milton Keynes Dons" - If you're trying to establish a new identity for a football club in Milton Keynes, then using part of the Wimbledon name isn't a good way of doing it, particularly when it also reminds Wimbledon fans of the way they effectively lost their club to franchising.

"Utah Jazz" - Keeping the name "Jazz" when the team moved to Utah was just plain dumb. Is Utah known for its thriving jazz scene and culture? It's particularly annoying that the New Orleans franchise is now calling itself the "Pelicans", one of the lamest names they possibly could have come up with.

"The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" - Too long, too convuluted. A total mess.

"Cleveland Indians" - Not so much for the name, although Native Americans may disagree, but that logo is just embarassing. A stereotyped "red man" with a massive grin on his face. It just looks way too similar to racist "pickaninny" imagery from days past. Awful.

Any team that uses "Wildcats" or "Cougars" in their name - It just sounds so generic and high-schoolish.

"FC United of Manchester" - Seriously guys, was this really the best choice? "Newton Heath" would have been a better choice, with a reference to Manchester United's history at least. "FC United of Manchester" also leads to some rather unfortunate initials.

"Nashville Predators" - It makes them sound like rapists or paedophiles.

Oh come on! The Predators is a awesome name with one of the best badass logo in major sports

[The Captain]

Washington Redskins - Quite possibly the most racist name in the big four sports. Only reason it can get away with it in 2013 is because of "tradition." (nevermind that the original founder of the team was bigoted as hell, even for a white sports team owner back in the day). If the team was formed in the 70's or 80's, the name and logo would've changed at least 15 years ago.

Minnesota Wild - This just sounds like a dumb name for a hockey team. I know they couldn't use North Stars since that team still exists as the Dallas Stars (which was a good fit, really; look at the Cowboys' logo), but they could've thought of a better name.

Utah Jazz - Because when I think of jazz music, I think of Utah.

Toronto Raptors - This would actually be an amazing name for a team if they dropped the dinosaur and went with the more contemporary meaning, that of a bird of prey like an eagle, hawk, falcon, etc. But it's kinda dumb now especially when it's based off a fad that's been over for quite some time.

Los Angeles Lakers - Really, how many lakes does LA have? I'm willing to bet not as many as Minnesota.

University of South Carolina Gamecocks - Because it just lends itself to way too many easy jokes.

[Toxik916]

May 31, 2013 1:07:15 GMT -5 mizerable said:

I knew they Kings used to be in Kansas City...and still should be. There, I said it.

Seriously I do love the way "Sacramento Kings" rolls off the tongue. The fact that the franchise is still named after royalty since starting off in Rochester is really cool to me.

I might catch heat for this, but I think the way a team name sounds might be a little more important than the name representing the city or region. The Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers both sound really cool and have good rings to them.

[BigBadZ]

May 31, 2013 1:50:51 GMT -5 @supersweetbotch said:

May 31, 2013 1:03:15 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

"Milton Keynes Dons" - If you're trying to establish a new identity for a football club in Milton Keynes, then using part of the Wimbledon name isn't a good way of doing it, particularly when it also reminds Wimbledon fans of the way they effectively lost their club to franchising.

"Utah Jazz" - Keeping the name "Jazz" when the team moved to Utah was just plain dumb. Is Utah known for its thriving jazz scene and culture? It's particularly annoying that the New Orleans franchise is now calling itself the "Pelicans", one of the lamest names they possibly could have come up with.

"The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" - Too long, too convuluted. A total mess.

"Cleveland Indians" - Not so much for the name, although Native Americans may disagree, but that logo is just embarassing. A stereotyped "red man" with a massive grin on his face. It just looks way too similar to racist "pickaninny" imagery from days past. Awful.

Any team that uses "Wildcats" or "Cougars" in their name - It just sounds so generic and high-schoolish.

"FC United of Manchester" - Seriously guys, was this really the best choice? "Newton Heath" would have been a better choice, with a reference to Manchester United's history at least. "FC United of Manchester" also leads to some rather unfortunate initials.

"Nashville Predators" - It makes them sound like rapists or paedophiles.

Oh come on! The Predators is a awesome name with one of the best badass logo in major sports

I totally agree with you SuperSweet, but the logo could a little more badass when we mention Predators

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Spoiler


Did you expect something else??

[DragonMasterP]

I always thought the name Columbus Blue Jackets was and still is pretty stupid.

[Deleted]

I don't really hate any team name in the NHL but there are three names that I don't care for:

1. Vancouver Canucks. Just sounds like lame kick starter name to get people in Vancouver excited about hockey. Plus we already have one team already called the Canadians.

2. New York Rangers. Most hockey cities don't have any state rangers well especially at the time nor know what a Ranger is outside of Walker Texas Ranger. I mean no disrespect to NY state rangers and its a badass hard job but Forrest Rangers whose main job to protect the environment just doesn't seem badass as actual high ranking cops like other state rangers.

3. Florida Panthers. I don't know it just sounds so boring. There logo is pretty boring as well but it's hard to make a Panther on a hockey jersey. Just meh. It just doesn't sound like a hockey team name but more of a baseball or basketball or football name instead.

[Jeremy]

Houston Texans

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

I like the Thunder but would've preferred Outlaws or Barons(as in oil barons, which of course is what our badass AHL team ended getting named).

I also would've LOVED the black and gold color scheme that was proposed to go with the Barons name.

[BlackoutCreature]

At one point in their history the Los Angeles Dodgers were known as the "Brooklyn Bridegrooms". I don't care if it was the 1880's, they still should've been laughed out of the league with a name like that.

May 31, 2013 2:25:24 GMT -5 @supersweetbotch said:

2. New York Rangers. Most hockey cities don't have any state rangers well especially at the time nor know what a Ranger is outside of Walker Texas Ranger. I mean no disrespect to NY state rangers and its a badass hard job but Forrest Rangers whose main job to protect the environment just doesn't seem badass as actual high ranking cops like other state rangers.

The "Rangers" name was chosen as a play on words. The creator of the franchise, and at the time owner of Madison Square Garden, Tex Rickard wanted to call them the New York Giants. People started calling them "Tex's Rangers" as a joke. The name stuck and became official.

[Hit Girl]

Personally I like some of the older more eccentric names. "Brooklyn Bridegrooms" sounds more offbeat and distinctive than a team that are trying too hard to sound cool, hip or "dangerous"

[ICBM]

The hornets are really becoming the pelicans? Really? Really?

Thunder haters I submit my response in the form of the Tampa Bay lightening

There is a college in IL whose mascot is the Salukis

[The Lach is very tired]

We have some bad ones here in Australia.

Melbourne Storm - Rugby League Team, such a nondescript name.

Port Adelaide Power - Aussie Rules Team, this team has had an identity crisis since it joined the league. After 15 years in the league they finally settled on a jersey design, that was designed by an elementary schoolgirl.

North Queensland Fury - Former soccer team

Wests Tigers - Rugby League, not the Tiger part the Wests part formed by a merger of Western Suburbs Magpies & Balmain Tigers. I hate the Wests part of the name.

Football Kingz - Former soccer team, yes it was spelt with a Z.

Adelaide Bite - Team in the Australian Baseball League, named after the Great Australian Bight but spelt differently? Weird.

And sadly my Rugby League team has a pretty bad one. The Parramatta Eels, doesn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of opponents. Parramatta in Aboriginal is "place of many Eels" as a river runs through what is now downtown. Was a movement a few years ago to change to the rams however there was a team in the league that has now folded called the rams so the proposal never really took off.

[Push R Truth]

Lakers and Jazz are crimes against humanity.

[Urethra Franklin]

There's a lot of talk that the Raptors are rebranding in the next couple of years. It's very likely that we'll see the return of the Toronto Huskies.

[Deleted]

I was wondering if anyone would mention the Eels. I kinda like the name though.

But yes, all the New Zealand team names: Basketball: Tall Blacks, Football: All Whites. Cricket: Black Caps. *sigh*

In Mick Foley's book: "Have a nice day" He said he wrestled in a school where the local team was names the Polka Dots.

[mattperiolat]

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

f*** you, Art Tores.