Alumni in the pros - odd team names

Cam Abbott has signed with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs ...
The Bakersfield Condors claimed Chris Abbott ...
Long Beach Ice Dogs ... Pee Dee Pride (R.I.P.)

Players must look fondly back on simple team names such as Big Red. And simple jersey colors and logos. And some of the locations: out of the way, cold, small towns of 25,000. Wait, scratch that last thought.

Based on what seems to be going on here in Allentown with the new baseball team name (the Lehigh Valley IronPigs), team owners want bizarro names for their teams. It's about getting the name to stick in people's heads. And merchandising, of course.

Jeff Hopkins '82
Based on what seems to be going on here in Allentown with the new baseball team name (the Lehigh Valley IronPigs), team owners want bizarro names for their teams. It's about getting the name to stick in people's heads. And merchandising, of course.

Who could forget the Toledo Mud Hens, especially after all the product placement they got on M*A*S*H?

And the mother of 'em all, the Macon Whoopee

Look out! It's Angry Sex Duck!

billhoward

Cam Abbott has signed with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs ...
The Bakersfield Condors claimed Chris Abbott ...
Long Beach Ice Dogs ... Pee Dee Pride (R.I.P.)

Players must look fondly back on simple team names such as Big Red.

Well, it's simple, but unusual. Otherwise, why would the question "Big Red What?" be amusing?

It's been touched upon several times in this forum, but it's fun to be in the club of colors:

Cornell Big Red
Dartmouth Big Green
Harvard Crimson
North Texas Mean Green (men's teams only)
Stanford Cardinal
Syracuse Orange (a recent addition)

More and more when teams realize how important marketing is, interesting team names pop up. We've mentioned the AC Boardwalk Bullies and the Macoun Whoopee earlier this year. But funny stuff like the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs will always wind up in movies. Of mild interest to me are the teams named after horrific disasters: the multiple instances of the Hurricanes, the Colorado Avalanche, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Chicago Fire...

Nicknames not ending in 'S' used to be a curiosity, but these days, it's much more common.

RichH
It's been touched upon several times in this forum, but it's fun to be in the club of colors:

Cornell Big Red
Dartmouth Big Green
Harvard Crimson
North Texas Mean Green (men's teams only)
Stanford Cardinal
Syracuse Orange (a recent addition)

Depending on your personal frame of reference, Dartmouth "Big Green" could be viewed as "a recent addition" as well.

Macon Whoopee

Heh. I had to check online to make sure you weren't having a quiet Friday morning, had Photoshop fired up, and quickly created a fictional team and logo. Nope, it's real.

Dartmouth and Stanford saw the light on the Indian thing being no-win years ago and got out early. The trick would have been to get the local / regional tribes to say they were honored by the nickname and then it would be a non-issue. Instead of a savage or silly caricature, Dartmouth would need a more noble image, of a proud Native American or perhaps were Dartmouth in Connecticut a casino greeter. Wait, that's probably the Lone Ranger by the door.

Syracuse Orange allows for "Tangerines" for freshman/JV teams.

So what does North Texas do if not Mean Green for women's teams? "Eco friendly green?" "Earth mother green"? [nope, taken by Cal, I bet]

This is getting silly. We're just killing time waiting for the word to saddle up and head to Princeton.

billhoward
So what does North Texas do if not Mean Green for women's teams? "Eco friendly green?" "Earth mother green"? [nope, taken by Cal, I bet]

"Lady Eagles" according to their website:
[www.unt.edu]

This is getting silly.

Says the man who started the thread "odd team names."

For more procrastination pre-puckdrop, read through this comprehensive list:
[www.smargon.net]

There are some pretty funny ones, if you want to spend the 5 minutes it takes to scroll through the page.

Some new discoveries for color nicknames:

Milliken University Big Blue
Bluefield State College Big Blues
Denison University Big Red (!)
Wellesley College Blue
Washburn University Lady Blues (Men's teams = Ichabods)
University of Chicago Maroons
Roanoke College Maroons

Mississippi University for Women Blues (intercollegiate athletics discontinued 2003)

I was undecided on the NYU Violets, because the nickname could be talking about the flower or the color. The mascot is a bobcat, but after reading the following article, it's apparent that the name is from the flowers in Washington Square Park and they actually did have a flower as a mascot at one point.

[www.nyu.edu]

And the Tulane Green Wave..they used to do a great "Green Wave" at football games.

CKinsland
And the Tulane Green Wave..they used to do a great "Green Wave" at football games.

I assumed this part of the thread was sticking to team names that included only colors, not also other nouns - or else the Alabama Crimson Tide would surely have come up by now.

CKinsland
And the Tulane Green Wave..they used to do a great "Green Wave" at football games.

A "Wave" is an object, not a color. "Green" describes the wave. There are MANY teams with the color as an adjective, but not as a noun.

Beeeej

CKinsland
And the Tulane Green Wave..they used to do a great "Green Wave" at football games.

I assumed this part of the thread was sticking to team names that included only colors, not also other nouns - or else the Alabama Crimson Tide would surely have come up by now.

Not to mention the Maine Black Bears.

Yeah, you all are right. I saw the "Mean Green" and the first thing that came to mind was Tulane (mostly because I grew up watching them, and thinking that "Green Wave" was a funny team name...Wave is odd, and Green Wave even odder, to my mind). I just wasn't paying attention.

Back to odd team names...I do hope to catch a Mudbugs game sometime when I go back to Lousiana to see the in-laws.

CK

And thank God St. Francis beat Andy Noel to the name "Red Flash." The prospect of "Red Spirit" has me looking over my shoulder.

ugarte
Not to mention the Maine Black Bears.

Actually, really, "black bear" doesn't apply. They're not talking about bears that happen to be a particular color, but rather a type of bear, so... yeah...

Does this mean we have to root for Denison?

Syracuse Orange (a recent addition)
quote]

They were the Orangemen before last year... the Orangemen being the German mercenaries provided to England by their ties to the House of Orange to fight the Americans and French in the Revolution and 7 years war. They were known to be ferocious warriors. The name was changed because it seemed sexist, as few know what an Orangeman, the mascot was an orange, and because Lady Orangemen sounds silly.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2006 11:19AM by The Rancor.

CowbellGuy

ugarte
Not to mention the Maine Black Bears.

Actually, really, "black bear" doesn't apply. They're not talking about bears that happen to be a particular color, but rather a type of bear, so... yeah...

I really didn't think it would be you, Age.

pfm10
Does this mean we have to root for Denison?

Actually, I think it means we have been all along and just didn't know it.