# Where did beginning a team name with “Team….” originate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237 "2021-12-17T19:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237/21 "2021-12-19T01:39:29Z")
I am confident that the Straight Dope’s Team Millions will solve this mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237/22 "2021-12-19T12:28:57Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Is there a way we could zero in on when a US or Canada or whoever group started using Team Country at international competitions? We could always google it… Here’s a mention of “Team USA” from November 1976: [https://vault.si.com/vault/1976/11/08/a-little-bit-who-counts](https://vault.si.com/vault/1976/11/08/a-little-bit-who-counts) And here’s a mention of “Team Canada” from December 1973: [History Through Our Eyes: Dec. 28, 1973, Ken Dryden | Montreal Gazette](https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/history-through-our-eyes/history-through-our-eyes-dec-28-1973-ken-dryden) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237/23 "2021-12-20T01:33:56Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I don’t really see any difference except in perspective. “Canada” has a large group of people associated with it, so Team Canada might seem impersonal. Relevant, maybe, but impersonal. Team Joey only means anything if you know who Joey is, but _that_ is exactly why the group might use the term: they are there to support Joey. The difference I see is that one includes the speaker in the “team,” and the other doesn’t. I might refer to Team USA, but I would never say “I am Team USA.” However, Twilight fans definitely said “I am Team Jacob.” In fact, I notice people don’t even say “I am a part of Team [X​],” It just seems that “I am Team [X​]” means “I support [X​]” or “I side with [X​]”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237/24 "2021-12-20T02:55:36Z")
The History Channel is running a series called “The Toys That Made America.” Last week’s episode, which I finally saw tonight, was about the rivalry between Lesney’s Matchbox cars and the Hot Wheels cars that Mattel came out with a decade or so later and ran them into the ground. I wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for this thread, but Matchbox fought back in 1971 with the Superfast series of cars. And the box that they showed had “Team Matchbox” printed on it. Google tells me that the Team Matchbook cars were introduced in 1973. It unquestionably meant that Team Matchbox was fighting an implied Team Mattel, although I can’t find a reference to that earlier than 2013 and by then Mattel had bought out Matchbox. The fact that Lesney was an English company fighting off the American competition implies that Team was a sporting reference similar to Team Canada. If true, this may be the earliest metaphoric extension of the term. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237/25 "2021-12-26T13:17:28Z")
This is the kind of uncanny attention to detail and relentless dedication to incredible minutiae that just isn’t replicated anywhere else on the internet. Good find eh. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237/26 "2021-12-26T15:58:09Z")
Yes, this is truly evidence that we’re in a special place! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-beginning-a-team-name-with-team-originate/956237.md?page=1)