How did the Lakers get their name? Anyone know?
The franchise started in Minneapolis and the name was brought along to the West Coast.
The Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz (relocated from New Orleans) are locked in a life or death struggle for the honor of having the sports franchise name that is the greatest oxymoron.
The Memphis Grizzlies are up there too.
so that’s why it didn’t make sense! Thanks for filling me in!
Coulda been worse. When the AFL’s Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City in 1962, owner Lamar Hunt (still the owner, btw) wanted to call the team the Kansas City Texans. Cooler heads prevailed.
Raygun99:
Not really. “Grizzlies” still sounds fierce or menacing, always acceptable in a name for a sports team even if the location contains none of them (e.g., Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Toronto Raptors). It’s only when the team name is purely location-derived that the keeping of the name is non-sensical.
How are they oxymorons? Nonsensical, yes. But not oxymoronic.
Utah is not known for its hot jazz, and LA doesn’t have any lakes to speak of.
This makes them nonsensical, not oxymoronic.
“Lakers” does not contradict “Los Angeles” and “Jazz” does not contradict “Utah.”
They make not go together like mustard and hot dogs (or Pittsburgh and Steelers). But there is no contradiction here. Simply non-congruent terms.
As I recall when they first announced they were moving to Memphis there was some discussion that they would change the franchise name to “Express”, mostly because FedEx is based in Memphis.
I’m not if it never moved beyond “trial balloon” stage or if the NBA said no to the idea.
True, you are right.
But LA is known for being extremely dry and Utah pretty much embodies the complete opposite of jazz. Technically you’re correct, but the irony of those two teams ending up in those two places almost pushes the line from nonsensical to oxymoronic.
Still, I concede the point.
fiddlesticks, the NBA nixed the “Memphis Express” idea. Naming arenas after corporations is enough, but they thought they had to maintain at least a pretense of dignity. Fred Smith (FedEx CEO) had some cute name dreamed up for the arena, too.
“Utah Lakers” and “LA Jazz” would be more appropriate names, yes, but by now their current names have the patina of tradition, silly or not.
I alwasy thought that you could make a case that ‘LA Lakers’ could have come from the first two letters of the second word meaning the abbreviation of the town ‘L.A. kers’ if you see what I mean.
Hell, I lived out there as a kid and that’s what I thought.
Actually, Utah, Los Angeles and New Orleans should make a three-way trade. Utah Lakers, Los Angeles Hornets and New Orleans Jazz.
I like Los Angeles Lakers better. Hornets is so generic.
I’m just wondering what LA will call its football team if it gets an expansion franchise.
Actually, Utah could take the Hornets name since Utah is the “Beehive State”. Yea, I know that hornets and bees are different so save the flames.
Didn’t I hear that if L.A. gets a football team they are going to be called the Eskimos?
I love what the Browns did when their team split. They were able to keep the name and let the franchise relocate in Blatimore as the Ravens.
It’d been nice if when the Colts left Baltimore if Baltimore could have kept the Colt name.
I like tradition. Sue me.
(The Tenessee Titans were the Oilers after splitting from Houston)
Well, let’s see. Raiders are taken, Rams are taken…How about the LA Rammers?
Marque, The Name Game is a book you may enjoy.
Utah Jazz: Not a Team Name, Not an Oxymoron.
Apparently the state hosts several jazz festivals every year.