# Philadelphia Union - Oh, yeah, that's a great soccer name...? **URL:** \ **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:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/21 "2009-05-14T00:59:54Z")
Detroit Drive-By ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/22 "2009-05-14T01:32:18Z")
Jello Biafra had a whole stand-up routine about bad team names…all I remember is the big grudge match between the Florida Abortion Bombers and the San Francisco Queers. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/23 "2009-05-14T01:57:08Z")
New York Flaming Towers. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/24 "2009-05-15T21:40:06Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The San Jose Earthquakes are holding up so far, though. Well, there were some interruptions in service 1989-95 and 2006-07. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/25 "2009-05-15T22:41:46Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > 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.) This is true even of Manchester United, a rebranding of the destitute Newton Heath. (‘Manchester Central’ was considered as another possible name.) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/26 "2009-05-16T01:54:28Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > 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. Chivas USA is the result of the club being connected to the club in Mexico known y the nickname “Chivas.” So it comes by that name honestly. Even if it is an attempt to pander to Hispanics in the L.A. area… ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228/27 "2009-05-17T04:08:20Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Chivas USA is the result of the club being connected to the club in Mexico known y the nickname “Chivas.” So it comes by that name honestly. > Even if it is an attempt to pander to Hispanics in the L.A. area… Oh, I’m aware the Jorge Vergara owns both teams and that it initially only employed hispanic players. I just really dislike the concept of the pandering. Barcelona was, for a while, fairly serious about getting a team in Miami. I’d have hated if they named it anything with Barcelona in the name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-union-oh-yeah-thats-a-great-soccer-name/496228.md?page=1)