The Oddest Team Names in Sports

For some reason yesterday I got into a discussion with a couple of co-workers about how many nicknames of pro sports teams just don’t fit and really should be changed. 

We actually started with the Utah Jazz who are a pro basketball team and have to top any list of misplaced nicknames.  They played their first five seasons in New Orleans where the name fit in with the city’s well-known love of Dixieland Jazz music.  However when they moved to Salt Lake City in 1979 they took the name with them which honestly makes no sense. 

Part of the reason likely had to do with they could not come up with anything else.I mean what can you say about Utah? You couldn’t call them the Utah Mormons in tribute to the majority of those who live in the state or the Utah Polygamists which could have led to some great promotions like bring your wife to the game night. Oh well. The Jazz continue to play in Utah even though nobody plays Jazz there.

The NBA clearly leads the pro sports leagues in names that don’t fit because of teams moving from one city to another.  For example Grizzlies made sense when they called Vancouver home but they now play in Memphis, Tennessee where there are no Grizzly bears.Since they do have black bears they should have just changed the name to the Memphis Black Bears or even better something to reflect their music history like Soul, Blues or Gospel.  It’s too late for that now.

You might wonder what Clippers has to do with Los Angeles. The answer is nothing as the franchise began in San Diego and Clippers was a tribute to the ships that sailed through San Diego Bay.  When they moved to LA thirty years ago they just kept the name which does not fit. 

Of course the city’s other team is the Lakers who were born in Minnesota which is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. When they moved west in 1960 they just took the lakes with them. 

You do have some nicknames which fit perfectly including the Pittsburgh Steelers, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and Milwaukee Brewers.  Nobody scratches their head over why those are the names.

While on the subject how about a shout-out for some clever if not confusing college nicknames. Topping my list are Campbell University “Flying Camels”, Coastal Carolina “Chanticleers” and the UC Santa Cruz “Banana Slugs.”