IIRC, the reasoning goes like this: the team is named after the national emblem of Canada. If you called the team “Maple Leaves,” they would just sound like an amorphous collection of leaves. “Maple Leafs”, OTOH, preserves the idea that each player corresponds to the individual, distinct leaf on the Canadian flag.
Now, if someone could just tell those Montreal players how to spell “Canadians”. . . 
Blame Canada. Blame Canada, I say!
The Macon Whoopee were an ice hockey team in Macon, GA. Unfortunately, it appears they are no longer in Macon, making the “Whoopee” part now superfluous.
The now defunct… hack… cough… Why I oughta…
I will wxpect to see you down at Henson Park for at least half of our home games next year as reparation.
NRL teams had unofficial nicknames for years. Newtown were the Bluebags (as in something that was put in with the wash to make clothes whiter) after their first playing jumpers which were sacks with holes cut out and dyed blue. When “official” nicknames came to the competition in the early '70s, they were renamed the Jets.
Likewise, the North Sydney Wharfies became the Bears and the Canterbury-Bankstown Blueberries became the Bulldogs, among other changes.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs were, indeed, named after street-sellers of rabbit meat that prevailed in the area and formed the playing base of many of their early teams.
The Minnesota Wild, by far. I hate the “singular” team names like Jazz, Magic and Heat, but at least they’re NOUNS. The notion of an adjective as a team nickname just galls me.
knock knock:
Good thing for their ego that “Blue Jays” failed to take hold when they tried it in the early 40’s.
…and what is a “Boilermaker”?
I like the Macon Whoopie too.
I was also remembering back when San Jose’s new NHL franchise held a public vote for a team name… on of the highest vote getters was the San Jose Cansenco’s.
Anyway, my votes for worst pro nicknames:
NHL - The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (the worst nickname ever)
NFL - Washington Redskins (umm… why hasn’t something been done about this?)
NBA - Washington Wizards (for PC-ing out on the way cooler Washington Bullets)
MLB - California Angels (not at all scarey or awe inspiring)
Ahem. The Anaheim Angels. And the Angels are still a better nickname than the freaking Devil Rays.
My dear Mr. Keller, it’s also a noun. Have you not heard, sir, of the Call of the Wild? 
I’m from Memphis, and the Grizzlies is the city’s first major professional league team. I would of rather had an NFL team, but it did not work out.
The name Grizzlies has a history in Memphis. Back in the early 1970’s there was an alternate football league called the grizzlies, which lasted a few years and had a following in Memphis. So the name is not that much of an oddball to two generations of sport’s fans who remember the name.
Fed Ex is headquartered in Memphis, and are part owners of the team. They wanted to rename the team the Memphis Express, but this was not allowed by the NBA, which is dumb. Besides, in Asia, there are many pro teams named after their company, not the city of origin.
Lastly, Memphis was a finalist for the NFL expansion several years ago (when Charlotte and Jacksonville got in) and the name of the team was going to be the Memphis Hound Dogs. It really sucks that those NFL bastards did not choose us!
As explained in another post, the name ‘Cubs’ comes from a nickname about how young all the players were at one point, if I remember correctly. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with naming teams after intimidating and powerful animals like Bears or Lions–isn’t intimidation and power the point?
If I remember this story correctly, before the Wizards were the Washington Bullets, they were the Chicago Bullets. After Chicago lost its NBA team to D.C., people realized that they wanted their Bullets back, but they certainly couldn’t just start a new team called the Bullets–so they shortened it to Bulls, probably figuring that it was reasonably close to Bullets and that running around with 5 bulls on a short basketball court is probably not a pleasant thought. (Works on that intimidation-and-power level.) So the Bulls were named after the Chicago Bullets (in their own special way), and there are probably plenty of bullets in Chicago (more than bulls, anyway) so it works indirectly.
And I think the indoor soccer team you’re thinking of is the San Diego Sockers. Can’t argue with that one, that’s a pretty terrible name.
They were known as the Baltimore Bullets before being the Washington Bullets. Before that, they were the Chicago Packers:
This is an old story and it’s taken off big time, but I’m not entirely positive how true it is. Philadelphia had the name “Phillies” on their home uniforms every single year in the 1940s, except in 1942 when it said “Phils.” From 1933 thru 1969 “Phillies” was on the unis every year. The team certainly never changed its name through any official means.
If the team tried to call itself the Blue Jays I cannot find any evidence it tried very hard.
From the Phillies’ website:
Sure, but they were originally known as the Los Angeles Angels, so at least it had some relevance to the area. Unlike the Lakers, which someone has already talked about.
I’d like to nominate the Expos for the worst uniforms over the long term for those ridiculous red/white/blue things they wore in the 80s, and the stupid insignia they had on their hats, and the White Sox for the one-game-only shorts look in the 70s. Those aren’t really in keeping with the topic, but I thought I’d add them anyway.
Nice to know that nobody’s taken any shots at the best nickname in sports history, by the way.
Oh, and I think the Colt .45s, had they stayed that way, would be the coolest name ever. Guns and alcohol, all in one fell swoop. Perfect reference.
No, I thought the Knickerbockers was about as stupid a name as you can get. The Team lives up to their stupid name.
Mighty Ducks has to be #1 though.
The Seattle Pilots aren’t a very good name, either. In “Ball Four”, Jim Bouton complains pointedly about having to play in a cap with goofy “pilot’s leaves” on the bill.