Pro Sports Names That Are Appropriate

superrific said:
Inappropriate: Boston Celtics, for two reasons

1. It's name is basically the Redskins of its day, maybe. Clearly it was named after a term for Irish people. Lots of Irish in Boston. I don't know if it was a loving embrace or a cooptation/derogation. If the former, fine.

2. Regardless, the name is a crime because it is supposed to be pronounced Keltic. The team changed the sound of the name for marketing purposes, which is wrong on multiple levels.
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Number 2 is the problem I have with the team’s name. I’ve been a Celtic fan for 60 years. My grandson is doing a study abroad this semester in Wales. He is taking a course on Celtic history and they pronounce it with the K sound. JRR Tolkien invented two complete elvish languages for Middle Earth. In both languages (one of which is based on the Welsh language) the letter C is pronounced with the K sound.
 
The C/K sound was gashed out above.

The old Souther Hockey League Greensboro Generals must have been a historical play on General Nathanael Greene though I’ve never seen it mentioned. The Charlotte Checkers was just cleverness.
 
donbosco said:
I find the Charlotte Hornets appropriate for exactly the reason that @rodoheel states. I don't actually care whether or not the reason that a name is appropriate is "well-known" or not. In fact, to different degrees some others mentioned here are not particularly well-known (Pittsburg Steelers to a 15 year old for example?)...

The Lakers name is along the lines of the Utah Jazz in that the nickname was appropriate to the original location of the team. Both franchises ought to have changed their names but I see that the alliteration of Lakers and Los Angeles is kind of cool. Maybe the Utah Jazz was considered Ironic?

Probably the greatest collection of nicknames to be sorted through are in minor league baseball. Asheville Tourists is quite appropriate but the local baseball team's very first name, The Moonshiners, is pretty cool. They were also once known as The Mountaineers.
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The Greensboro minor league baseball team was the Hornets until Charlotte got an NBA team. The baseball team changed their name to the Grasshoppers so not to have two teams with the same name in the State or something like that.

Atlanta Braves have a team in Gwinnett that was called the Braves. They renamed them the Stripers. Rumor was that people were showing up at the major league stadium with minor league tickets was part of the reason. The stadiums are only about 40 miles apart.
The Stripers is a stupid name. When it first changed people jokingly called them the Strippers.
 
rodoheel said:
Why is Charlotte Hornets on the good list? My understanding is that it refers to a Cornwallis quote about Charlotte being a "nest of hornets" during the Revolutionary war, but very few people probably know that origin and it's not really anything that people would tie to the Charlotte area like with the other examples listed in the OP. Like, wouldn't names like the 76ers or 49ers be thought of before "Hornets" as referencing well-known historical events?

Phoenix Suns also belongs on the "appropriate" list. San Diego Padres too. Florida Marlins. Houston Rockets. All very appropriate names.

"Vancouver Canucks" and "Houston Texans" seem like names that are technically appropriate but also sort of lazy.

Put the LA Lakers on the "not appropriate" list with the Jazz, as like with the Jazz the name results from a feature of a previous location where the team played (Minneapolis).
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The hornets quote is pretty well known in Charlotte.
 
IMG_1023.jpeg

This Miami team in the ABA tried the gimmick of simply being ‘The Floridians.’

They did, however, introduce bikini ball girls to the game.
 
Patb78 said:
Number 2 is the problem I have with the team’s name. I’ve been a Celtic fan for 60 years. My grandson is doing a study abroad this semester in Wales. He is taking a course on Celtic history and they pronounce it with the K sound. JRR Tolkien invented two complete elvish languages for Middle Earth. In both languages (one of which is based on the Welsh language) the letter C is pronounced with the K sound.
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Apparently we are wrong. This was covered on an earlier post but according to that poster, it was common in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) to use the soft c. The hard c was uncovered later.
 
When I tended bar I had this trick that I would pull out if I found myself with a group of guys who were getting too rowdy and I needed them to calm down some.

Name Ten College Mascots that do not end with the letter 'S."

Usually worked...sometimes they even asked for pens so they could start making their list on bar napkins.
 
houston rockets, okc thunder, seattle mariners, san jose earthquakes, angel city fc, gotham fc
 
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donbosco said:
When I tended bar I had this trick that I would pull out if I found myself with a group of guys who were getting too rowdy and I needed them to calm down some.

Name Ten College Mascots that do not end with the letter 'S."

Usually worked...sometimes they even asked for pens so they could start making their list on bar napkins.
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The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Stanford Cardinal. And they're maybe the only football team we have a chance against given the remaining schedule. ... oh, and Massachusetts Minutemen (another team we might be able to beat). And Syracuse Orange.
 
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Bobfripp said:
The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Stanford Cardinal. And they're maybe the only football team we have a chance against given the remaining schedule. ... oh, and Massachusetts Minutemen (another team we might be able to beat). And Syracuse Orange.
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There's a team down in Raleighwood that fits the bill.
 
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