I’m interested in finding relatively rare sports team names.
My interest was piqued by my discovery that there appear to be barely a baker’s dozen teams sharing the name of my beloved Green Bay Packers at present. A cursory search turned up the following:
Armour Packers (High School team name, SD)
Austin Packers (HS, MN)
Colquitt County Packers (HS, GA)
Cudahy Packers (HS, WI)
Fremont Packers (HS, MI)
Largo Packers (HS, FL)
Moultrie Packers (HS, GA)
Omaha South Packers (HS, NE
Santa Maria Valley Packers (collegiate level baseball, CA)
Smithfield Packers (HS, VA)
South St. Paul Packers (HS, MN)
West Fargo Packers (HS, ND)
Westchester Packers (minor league football, NY)
In the past, there were about 2 dozen more, usually minor-league or senior-league baseball teams, but occasionally a basketball team.
Any other major sports franchises with such an uncommon name? I do note the 49ers appear be the name of only 5 sports teams I can locate.
Don’t imagine there are many teams named like the NJ Devils. Their minor league affiliates are named such (Albany and Trenton), and I know of the Duke Blue Devils… but it’s not a figure most want to be associated with (even in NJ–the team is named for the Jersey Devil, not Lucifer). Even the Tampa Bay Devil Rays dropped the “Devil” part to avoid the connotation.
The various minor league baseball teams based in New Orleans were called the Pelicans which I used to think was odd since the pelican is such a silly-looking bird. However, pelicans are native to the area so I guess it’s no more ridiculous than the Baltimore Orioles or St. Louis Cardinals.
Arkansas Tech University Wonder Boys
Arkansas Tech Wonderettes
West Virginia Wonders
Sand teams:
Gulfport - Biloxi Sand Crabs
Santa Cruz Sand Crabs
Redondo Beach Sand Dabs
Atlantic City Sand Snipers
Las Vegas Sand Vipers
Charles Page Sandites
San Diego Sandpipers
Lake Linden Sandy Cities
Viper teams:
Las Vegas Sand Vipers
Beaver County Vipers
Central PA Vipers
Chattahoochee Valley Vipers
Chattahoochee Valley Vipers
H.S. of Health Professions/Human Services Vipers
Kern County Vipers
Lake Hartwell Vipers
Las Vegas Vipers
Ocean State Vipers
Orthopedic Hospital Vipers
Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Roanoke Valley Vipers
San Miguel Vipers
Space Coast Vipers
St. Louis Vipers
Staten Island Vipers
Tennessee Valley Vipers
Victoria Memorial Vipers
Wichita Falls Vipers
Lotsa lakers teams:
Advanced Tech Academy Lakers
Apponequet Regional Lakers
Bear Lake Lakers
Boys Latin Lakers
Calloway County Lakers
Clayton College and State University Lakers
Coeur d’Alene Lakers
Des Lacs-Burlington Lakers
Detroit Lakes Lakers
Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Lakers
Finger Lakes Community College Lakers
Garrett College Lakers
Glen Lake Lakers
Grand Valley State University Lakers
Green Lake Lakers
Hayes Vo-Tech Lakers
Houghton - Portage Lakers
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers
Indian Lake Lakers
Iowa Lakes Community College Lakers
Lake Charles Lakers
Lake Clifton Lakers
Lake Clifton-Eastern Lakers
Lake County Lakers
Lake Land College Lakers
Lake Michigan Catholic Lakers
Lake Oswego Lakers
Lake Region Lakers
Lake Sumter Community College Lakers
Lake Superior State University Lakers
Lakeland Community College Lakers
Long Lake Central Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
Mackinac Island Lakers
Mercyhurst College Lakers
Mercyhurst Prep Lakers
Metropolitan Community College-Longview Lakers
Minneapolis Southwest Lakers
Mountain Lakes Lakers
North Tahoe Lakers
Okanagan University College Lakers
Our Lady of the Lakes Lakers
Prior Lake Lakers
Purdue University-Calumet Lakers
Pymatuning Valley Lakers
Pyramid Lake Lakers
Rangeley Lakes Lakers
Roosevelt University Lakers
Russell County Lakers
Shell Lake Lakers
New Bedford Bay Sox
Grand Rapids Black Sox
Toms River Black Sox
Green Bay Blue Sox
Highland Park Blue Sox
South Bend Blue Sox
St. Thomas Blue Sox
West Virginia Coal Sox
Elizabethton Betsy Red Sox
Fort Lauderdale Red Sox
Hazlehurst - Baxley Red Sox
New Britain Red Sox
Rocky Mount Red Sox
San Jose Red Sox
Winter Haven Red Sox
Colorado Springs Sky Sox
Colorado Springs Sky Sox
Sun Cities Solar Sox
Deerfield Beach Sun Sox
Fort Myers Sun Sox
Winter Haven Sun Sox
Winter Haven Super Sox
Glens Falls White Sox
Great Falls White Sox
Los Angeles White Sox
South Bend White Sox
Wisconsin Rapids White Sox
coupla canucks:
Fort William-Port Arthur Canucks
Hamilton Canucks
Kitchener Canucks
North Plainfield Canucks
Toronto Canucks
Vancouver Canucks
coupla canadiens too:
Fredericton Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa - Hull Canadiens
Outremont Canadiens
Sherbrooke Canadiens
St. Jean Canadiens
Verdun Junior Canadiens
nationals, too:
Laval National
Rosemont National
Augusta Nationals
Concord Nationals
Concord Nationals
Dearborn Heights Nationals
Emporia Nationals
Fairfax Nationals
Germantown Nationals
Kitchener Nationals
London Nationals
Long Island Nationals
Minnesota Nationals
Montreal Nationals
New York Nationals
Orlando Nationals
Ottawa Nationals
Pontiac Nationals
Potomac Nationals
Shelby Nationals
Springfield Nationals
Syracuse Nationals
Toronto Nationals
Trenton Nationals
Tucson Nationals
Washington Nationals