# Best and worst sports team names based on their location **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 23, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383 "2019-05-23T01:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/41 "2019-05-23T17:13:03Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > The Chicago Cubs. Cubs? Bear cubs? in Chicago? And speaking of bears, Chicago Bears? Old-school NFL teams shamelessly stole from MLB: NY Giants? Chicago Bears vs Cubs and Detroit Lions vs Tigers? Come on, guys! Also, Detroit Tigers / Lions seems geographically inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/42 "2019-05-23T17:49:25Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Old-school NFL teams shamelessly stole from MLB: NY Giants? Chicago Bears vs Cubs and Detroit Lions vs Tigers? Come on, guys! > > Also, Detroit Tigers / Lions seems geographically inappropriate. I keep waiting for the city to add The Detroit Ligers. I HATE that someone could name a team the SAME name as a team in another city: “Next up in Sports, the Giants may be in a bit of trouble next season…” Wait, NY Giants or SF Giants? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/43 "2019-05-23T17:50:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > There are no jaguars in Florida. But there are [panthers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther) (actual panthers and not just the hockey team). Even if there only around 20 in the wild. Personally, I think it is pretty easy to mix up some of those larger cat species. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/44 "2019-05-23T17:52:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Maybe they should pronounce it Jag-u-ars. I bet there is some of those in Floridas. there are Florida Panthers which is where the NHL team got their name. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/45 "2019-05-23T17:54:16Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I HATE that someone could name a team the SAME name as a team in another city: “Next up in Sports, the Giants may be in a bit of trouble next season…” Wait, NY Giants or SF Giants? Imagine what it must have been like in New York before the Giants moved to San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/46 "2019-05-23T17:58:05Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Old-school NFL teams shamelessly stole from MLB: NY Giants? Chicago Bears vs Cubs and Detroit Lions vs Tigers? Come on, guys! I have read several sources claiming the New York Jets were named as an homage to the Mets, but there isn’t any actual evidence that is true, and there IS contemporaneous evidence they were named that upon moving to Shea Stadium because La Guardia airport is right there. Also in 1963 jets and air travel were symbols of sophistication and coolness. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/47 "2019-05-23T18:04:28Z")
And the Nets is a good name for a basketball team, particularly one in a city that has the Mets and the Jets (who obviously were aware that Jets rhymes with Mets, even being the dumb jocks that they are). Yankees is a another good name with a historical connection. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/48 "2019-05-23T18:10:02Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Imagine what it must have been like in New York before the Giants moved to San Francisco. Which is why the NFL team is legally incorporated as the “New York Football Giants,” a term which still gets used from time to time (probably more ironically than anything else). And, for that matter, from 1960 until 1987, “the St. Louis Cardinals” wasn’t descriptive enough, either (though the NFL team wasn’t originally founded in St. Louis, and, as noted upthread, was not named after the baseball team). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/49 "2019-05-23T18:10:10Z")
The World Team Tennis franchise there was the Sets. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/50 "2019-05-23T18:20:09Z")
Other nicknames that haven’t yet been mentioned, which I feel fit their locations particularly well: Miami Dolphins Dallas Cowboys Houston Oilers Minnesota Vikings \* Colorado Rockies Miami Marlins Milwaukee Brewers San Diego Padres Seattle Mariners Milwaukee Bucks - - Yes, I know, there are no actual Vikings, per se, in Minnesota, but there are an awful lot of Scandinavian-Americans. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/51 "2019-05-23T18:21:14Z")
And there’s a sports gambling company called (what else) New York Bets. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/52 "2019-05-23T18:36:26Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I HATE that someone could name a team the SAME name as a team in another city: “Next up in Sports, the Giants may be in a bit of trouble next season…” Wait, NY Giants or SF Giants? In the CFL, a league with less than 10 teams, two of them were called the Roughriders/Rough Riders for decades. For most of that time they also had the same team colors. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/53 "2019-05-23T18:42:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I have read several sources claiming the New York Jets were named as an homage to the Mets, but there isn’t any actual evidence that is true, and there IS contemporaneous evidence they were named that upon moving to Shea Stadium because La Guardia airport is right there. Also in 1963 jets and air travel were symbols of sophistication and coolness. The Jets were the Titans for their first 3 seasons when they played at the Polo Grounds , the baseball Giants played there before their move to SF. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/54 "2019-05-23T19:04:01Z")
The Dodgers and the Lakers are two interesting cases. While both names were definitely more geographically appropriate to their original locations, the teams have become iconic enough that I associate their names more with the teams themselves than the original definitions. They have appropriated the meanings in my mind. In other words, I hear “Lakers” and I think of basketball, not lakes. I hear “Dodgers” and I think of baseball, not folks darting across trolley tracks. I guess it’s just me, but that is decidedly not true of, say, “Jazz” or “Grizzlies.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/55 "2019-05-23T19:15:25Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Old-school NFL teams shamelessly stole from MLB: NY Giants? Chicago Bears vs Cubs and Detroit Lions vs Tigers? Come on, guys! The NFL had at one time or another copied at least the following baseball names: - Cleveland Indians - Detroit Tigers - Detroit Wolverines - Hartford Blues - Kansas City Blues - Kansas City Cowboys - Louisville Colonels - New York Giants - New York Yankees/New York Yanks - Brooklyn Dodgers - Cincinnati Reds > [@digs](#): > > I keep waiting for the city to add The Detroit Ligers. > > I HATE that someone could name a team the SAME name as a team in another city: “Next up in Sports, the Giants may be in a bit of trouble next season…” Wait, NY Giants or SF Giants? Why should this matter? I think the rules should be even looser. I don’t know why the NFL shouldn’t have both an Indianapolis Colts and a Baltimore Colts if the fans in both cities like those names enough. There are only so many good names anyway. > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Imagine what it must have been like in New York before the Giants moved to San Francisco. I’m sure it wasn’t that big a deal. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/56 "2019-05-23T19:22:39Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Imagine what it must have been like in New York before the Giants moved to San Francisco. In St. Louis, before the football Cardinals moved away, locals used to refer to the baseball team as the Redbirds, and the football team as the Big Red. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/57 "2019-05-23T21:18:54Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > God, how did I forget the Grizzlies? There are no grizzly bears in Tennessee, or anywhere east of the Mississippi, unless they’re in a zoo. > > Pittsburgh Penguins is an odd one too but it’s a reference to ice, not Pittsburgh. > > There are no jaguars in Florida. Are there many Raptors in Toronto? That always struck me as a particularly lame name. It’s not as if there were any famous dinosaur beds around Toronto. It was just an attempt to get some publicity from the popularity of _Jurassic Park_ at the time the team was established. The Montreal Expos also had a lame name. What the hell is an Expo? The name didn’t really have any relevance even at the time they were named in 1969, two years after Expo 67 in Montreal. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/58 "2019-05-23T21:22:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Are there many Raptors in Toronto? How about the Nashville Predators? Doesn’t that word have disturbing connotations? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/59 "2019-05-23T21:26:30Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Imagine what it must have been like in New York before the Giants moved to San Francisco. It was really only in the mid-50s that both the baseball and the football teams were popular at the same time. The football Giants were good in the 1930s, but the NFL wasn’t such a big deal then. They didn’t win another championship game until 1956, and by 1958 the baseball Giants were gone. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383/60 "2019-05-23T21:32:55Z")
I always felt the Houston Texans was a name thought up with very little effort. I think it was from a fans poll, but still, an uninspired choice. The Carolina Hurricanes is regionally appropriate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-sports-team-names-based-on-their-location/834383.md?page=4)