I used to be big into NASCAR racing. I’m not anymore (more on that later). I got my NASCAR fandom from my late father, but I did not inherit his mechanical aptitude. He was a customizing wizard, and converted many old hunks of junk into some of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen. It was his passion.
So back in the early aughts, I started a NASCAR fantasy league with some friends. My first team name was “Diamond Wheels,” combining my love of both Baseball and racing. Someone else called his team “Lug Nutz,” and as a joke, everyone else changed any plural s to a z , and thus I became “Diamond Wheelz.” This became the convention for years to come. Each season I had a different name, but always with “Wheelz” in it. “Wheelz On Fire,” “Loose Wheelz,” etc.
Meanwhile, whenever I needed a username anywhere on the inter tubes, I just defaulted to “Wheelz.” It was succinct and easy to remember.
Thing is, I’m not such a NASCAR fan anymore. All the changes they’ve made in the name of safety (a good thing) has turned the sport into a giant snoozefest (a bad thing), and I can barely watch ten minutes now. The fantasy league is a distant memory. And I never really was much of a car guy.
So the name “Wheelz” doesn’t really fit me at all. Years ago, somebody on the Dope assumed I was wheelchair-bound. I hated to think I’d appropriated that imagery, and I hope most people don’t jump to that conclusion.
I’ve considered requesting a name change, but after nearly two decades I suppose “Wheelz” is just who I am here. I also don’t mind keeping it as a tribute to Dad.
Not my name here, but I used to play Day of Defeat, a Half Life WWII capture the flag mod. One day I was playing and I kept get getting killed by a machine gunner. I thought to myself, I’m such a mgmagnet and the name was born! There was someone named grenademagnet and everyone would ask if we knew each other. We didn’t and I never asked how he/she got the name. Always assumed it was for the same reason!
MeanJoe - M and J are my first and middle initials. Also, Mean Joe Greene was my favorite Steeler when I was a kid growing up in Pittsburgh in the 70’s and is still my favorite of all-time.
I’ve probably told this before, but many years ago I adopted three four-month-old orange tiger boycats from a local rescue, and named them Eddy, Teddy, and Freddy.
Around 1999 I joined a sports forum and used the handle Hal Boutham. It was a pun on that most versatile of sports fan questions: How ‘bout them (Bears, Jets, Bucks, whatever)? It was something you could ask whether your team was riding high, floundering, mired in mediocrity, or if you hadn’t really been following them closely.
Once, when I got stuck in a boring back and forth argument with a dogmatic poster, I flipped my poster name to Baal Houtham, made a final response and bailed out of the discussion. Having multiple posting names wasn’t against the rules then, so I had a transparent sock that I used for my more cantankerous posts. Most posters on the sports forum preferred Baal to Hal. When I joined SDMB, I was weary of clever punning names, so I continued with Baal.
I gave my pathetic origin back in the 170s, but kept remembering BBBoo’s comment. So popped back to this thread to mention that there might be local chocolatiers that you don’t even know about.
We discovered our now-favorite chocolate at a farmer’s market, and got to meet THE William. Sweet guy (even though none of his bars are less than 70% cocoa). He scopes out amazing beans all over the world, and adds really interesting flavors. This fall, he finally got a web site, and an online shop…
In the Army I was an Aeroscout Observer. I flew in Vietnam era OH-58s. When I left active duty I joined a National Guard unit that was still flying early Vietnam era OH-6s which were nicknamed Loach. That was around the time I started signing into things on the internet and I used Loach here and there. I signed up on the old AOL board under Loach but never really participated. When I rediscovered the Dope I signed up as Loach again.
After picking the name I had to change military specialty twice due to circumstances that were out of my control. I became a tanker and then retired as a combat engineer. I’ve been retired for 4 years and haven’t been around helicopters in decades. But the name remains.
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