What sports team has the most ridiculous or silly name?
Minor League Hockey
[list=1]
[li]Macon Whoopie - ECHL[/li][li]Charlotte Checkers- ECHL[/li][li]New Orleans Brass - ECHL[/li][li]Florida Everblades - ECHL[/li][li]Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - CHL[/li][li]Amarillo Gorillas - CHL[/li][li]Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees - CHL[/li][/list=1]
Minor league hockey happens to have some of my favorite names, although I always admired the MLS and their choice of bizzare mascots (SJ Earthquakes, Chicago Fire, etc.).
For a while, the Brooklyn Dodgers were known as the Brooklyn Robins and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms.
The Chicago team in the Federal League (1914-1915) was known as the Chicago Whales, just what you’d name a baseball team where speed (at that time) was very important and in a city that was 1000+ miles from the nearest ocean.
The Ottawa team in the National Lacrosse League is called “Ottawa Rebel.”
No, that wasn’t a typo. I didn’t miss an S. It’s “Ottawa Rebel,” not “Ottawa Rebels.”
Now, I can understand a non-plural name where the team’s name defies pluralization, like “Utah Jazz,” “New York Liberty,” etc. But… why? Why “Ottawa Rebel”? Why in God’s name would you do that?
Oh, and the Toronto team is the “Toronto Rock.” Why?? I thought maybe it was Rock as in Rock and Roll, sort of like Utah Jazz, but there’s nothing in the team graphics to suggest this.
I used the Rebel, Rock, Roughnecks and Ravens in a trivia question for a class I was teaching a while back. One of two Canadian sports questions for a bunch of New Yorkers:
Q1: Name the four major league professional team names that start with R in Canada’s official summer sport.
Q2: At a curling match, the skip on the team with the hammer is about to throw for the first time in the 2nd end. Assuming that all shots begin at the hack and successfully cross the hog line at the opposite end of the sheet, what’s the minimum total amount of distance that rocks have travelled in this match?
A2: (highlight it) Hack to hog line is 105 ft, 16 stones per end, Skip (last spot on team) with hammer (throws first) throws stone #14 as his/her first rock, so (16 +13)*105=3045 feet
I never watched Pulp Fiction, but MacGuyver always wore a Calgary Flames cap. Now ask me why I think Chicago Fire is a silly name, but Calgary Flames isn’t.
P.S. Mariemarie If no one else has said it yet (or even if they have), welcome to the boards!
For what it’s worth, the Austin Ice Bats got rolled into the Southern Division of the CHL when the CHL and WPHL merged. The Ice Bats are currently down 2-1 in a best of 7 series with the Laredo Bucks. I just love the team names in that league!
There are some strange names in AAA baseball such as,
Myrtle Beach Pelicans wouldn’t exactly strike fear into me.
Lansing Lugnuts sounds like an insult (to themselves).
Savannah Sand Gnats seems strange as well. Now, I don’t really know what the heck a sand gnat is, but at worst I would think they would be an annoyance and nothing worse than that. It’d be like naming a team the Foldens Jock Itch.
