# Philadelphia Union - Oh, yeah, that's a great soccer name...?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [May 12, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228 "2009-05-12T23:02:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/1 "2009-05-12T23:02:04Z")
The new Philadelphia MLS team will be the Philadelphia Union. Blue and gold colors, logo the stylized rattlesnake from the Ben Franklin cartoons about uniting or dying.
Well, at least it’s not an artificially stupid name like Real Salt Lake. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/2 "2009-05-12T23:35:15Z")
I hear the Union strikers are demanding better conditions. The Union defenders hate all the Southerners on the team.
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/3 "2009-05-13T00:21:13Z")
I may be missing something here, not being American – are you saying that the “Union” name might still be contentious in the South? I guess the colours and rattlesnake might also be Union-related things?
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### Author:  [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/4 "2009-05-13T00:39:41Z")
No, just that Union is a stupid name for a sports team in general.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/5 "2009-05-13T01:49:43Z")
No worse than DC United - there was ever only 1 club, it didn’t “unite” with anything.
Philly also had the Freedom in team tennis and the Bell in the WFL. This is no worse.
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/6 "2009-05-13T02:14:16Z")
> [@Ximenean](#):
>
> I may be missing something here, not being American – are you saying that the “Union” name might still be contentious in the South? I guess the colours and rattlesnake might also be Union-related things?
I was just joking around.
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### Author:  [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/7 "2009-05-13T02:30:36Z")
Nothing is worse than MLS’ ‘Chicago Fire’.
Naming a sports team after the worst diaster in the city’s history - _that’s_ a good precedent.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/8 "2009-05-13T02:41:10Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#):
>
> Nothing is worse than MLS’ ‘Chicago Fire’.
>
> Naming a sports team after the worst diaster in the city’s history - _that’s_ a good precedent.
No worse than the [London Blitz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Blitz_(American_football)) or the Toronto Maple Leafs…oh wait, that last isn’t named after a disaster, they _are_ a disaster.
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### Author:  [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/9 "2009-05-13T02:43:35Z")
I can’t wait for the Oklahoma City Bombers and the New Orleans Hurricanes to be added to the league.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/10 "2009-05-13T03:02:30Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> No worse than DC United - there was ever only 1 club, it didn’t “unite” with anything.
>
> Philly also had the Freedom in team tennis and the Bell in the WFL. This is no worse.
As I learned (much to my surprise) in the last thread about stupid US association football team names, it turns out that most of the English clubs that use the United name didn’t actually unite with anything either.
More or less the only ones we found that were actually so named because of an actual union were Newcastle United (formerly Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End) and Peterborough United (which was actually not a union of anything, but was named after its predecessor, Peterborough and Fletton United.)
I maintained, natch, that Real Salt Lake was an astonishingly stupid name, especially since they don’t actually have any ties to Spanish royalty… but I more or less had to take back the thing about DC United.
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/11 "2009-05-13T04:04:53Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> I maintained, natch, that Real Salt Lake was an astonishingly stupid name, especially since they don’t actually have any ties to Spanish royalty… but I more or less had to take back the thing about DC United.
What does the “Real” mean? I’ve heard of Real Madrid (I think).
How does that fit with Utah?
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/12 "2009-05-13T04:29:17Z")
“Real” means “Royal,” as in they have been given that title by royalty (the king of Spain actually gave Real Madrid the “Real”). Salt Lake, of course, does not have any royalty to give such a title.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/13 "2009-05-13T21:02:44Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#):
>
> Nothing is worse than MLS’ ‘Chicago Fire’.
>
> Naming a sports team after the worst diaster in the city’s history - _that’s_ a good precedent.
It worked so well for the Atlanta Flames that they had to leave the country. The San Jose Earthquakes are holding up so far, though.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/14 "2009-05-13T21:29:41Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#):
>
> Nothing is worse than MLS’ ‘Chicago Fire’.
>
> Naming a sports team after the worst diaster in the city’s history - _that’s_ a good precedent.
Worked for the Miami Hurricanes.
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### Author:  [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/15 "2009-05-13T21:36:20Z")
I was hoping they would build a cult-of-personality around the mayor and name them the “Philadelphia Nutters”.
The location for the stadium was originally planned to be in Glassboro, NJ, which would have been very convenient for me, but since it’s going to be in Chester, PA, I doubt I’ll be going to many games.
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### Author:  [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/16 "2009-05-13T22:39:26Z")
Along with the “Real Salt Lake”…
Isn’t there a soccer team called F.C. something-or-other?
F.C…as in Football club…as in the name we DON’T call the sport?
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/17 "2009-05-13T22:53:52Z")
Um, YOU may not call it football, but I certainly do. 😉
Sometimes.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/18 "2009-05-13T23:25:55Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#):
>
> Along with the “Real Salt Lake”…
>
> Isn’t there a soccer team called F.C. something-or-other?
>
> F.C…as in Football club…as in the name we DON’T call the sport?
Dallas and Toronto, both.
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### Author:  [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/19 "2009-05-14T00:08:21Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> Dallas and Toronto, both.
Toronto happens to not be in the US though.
Chicago Fire’s a great name and they have a great badge too. Real Salt Lake is really really stupid. I don’t like Chivas USA either, but MLS started out with the Wiz. RSL is an improvement than that.
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### Author:  [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/20 "2009-05-14T00:26:19Z")
LA Riots
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