Poorly named sport franchises

There are many sport teams out there that simply have badly named teams. I am not saying all are bad, but some simply do not fit in, and some are just look like the owners spent 5 minutes selecting the name or selected a name that needs to be upgraded. And then there are teams that need to change because they are offensive, but I will save that for a separate post.

The NFL is pretty good, almost all of teams have solid names that relate to the city or area. Though there are far too many bird teams, I mean birds are just not cool, Eagles are ok, Falcons (never saw one in Georgia by the way) could upgrade, Ravens (kind of scary if you think about the poem), Cardinals (I bet there are a lot in Arizona's desert), but realistically the names are not that bad. The Browns could upgrade, but that will not happen. I mean the name of the team is a color, the fans dress up as dogs, so is brown the color of the dog and if so, just call the team the wolves or foxes or something other canine. But, seriously, the NFL has done a good job of making the teams have good names.

The NHL is next. Almost all of the teams in Canada could upgrade.

Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks: Montreal and Vancouver both need to change because the team names are lazy, it would be like if New York had a team called the "Americans", and Canuck is a slur that non-Canadians use, so really they are making fun of themselves.

Ottawa Senators: where to begin? Well, the logo is a picture of a Spartan warrior or Greek warrior. What does that have to with Ottawa, nothing. The term Senator is a term for a representative in a democratic government, what does this have to do with hockey and this warrior guy? Solution, change the team name to warriors.

Calgary Flames: Why would you make the team name after something that ruins the surface you play on? Fire melts ice, what a bad name. Plus Calgary is cold, though they have nice summers, but hockey is a winter sport. The team moved from Atlanta 35+ years ago, so maybe it is time for a change.

Anaheim Ducks: The duck is quite possibly the least scary bird, well except for the robin. Where are these ducks by the way? Is Anaheim the duck capital of California or something. I think the name is a result of Disney owning the team, but still this is bad name. Ducks are not tough, they are cute. And why are there so many hockey teams in California, I love the San Jose Sharks, but even I am like it is too warm for hockey.

San Jose Sharks - Hate to do this to my favorite hockey team, but San Jose is pretty landlocked. The bay is north of the city, but not very close. Oh, and there are not many sharks in the bay, so they could have done a much better job in selecting the mascot.

The NBA

Well, most of the issues in the NBA result of moving teams.

The Utah Jazz: There are so many great jazz musicians from the state of Utah, no, the team moved from New Orleans and never changed the name. This is a terrible name, there is no association between Jazz and Salt Lake City, maybe a jazz club or two, but really this is just laziness.

Los Angeles Lakers: Originally in Minnesota, the land of a ten thousand lakes, the name made sense. But there are no lakes in Los Angeles, well maybe there are some, but the city is not known for their lakes. Maybe the LA Smog?

New York Knicks: Still not sure what Knickerbocker is and it is still technically the official name. Just change it already, no knows what this word means.

Memphis Grizzlies: Again, team moved from Canada to Memphis. It worked in Canada, but Memphis is not known for their beers, maybe they change it to the kings for Elvis and Sacramento change their name to something better since everyone outside of California thinks of the kings as the hockey team in LA. Wow, that was two-for-one deal.

Miami Heat: We all know Miami is hot, it is 85 degrees 10 months of the year. Please don't remind everyone of that. This is laziness on the ownership, you named your team after a descriptive term for the weather, and not even a creative one like the Phoenix Suns,

MLB

Philadelphia Phillies - Problem here is the laziness of the owners, though I will be nice since they named the team 120 years ago, so they probably thought it was catchy. Basically it is the name of the city a second time, like the Cleveland Cleves, or the Portland Ports. It must have been a very quick meeting when they thought this name up.

Cincinnati Reds - Similar to the Browns in the NFL, this team is simply a color, an adjective. Teams need to have nouns, not adjectives, adjectives modify, in this case, modifying the city of Cincinnati. Again, the was founded 100+ years ago, so maybe this was the best they could work with.

Kansas City Royals - I have no idea what royalty has to do with Kansas City, I guess this like the Reds, they simply took a color and made it the team name. Or maybe the name is for royalty, I don't know and it is confusing. If it is for royalty, than this team is unAmerican because this country was founded to protest the ideas of royalty and monarchs.

Oakland Athletics - Again, an old team with an old name. The problem is that the A's is much more popular than the full name and the shorter A's, makes no sense. The team is a letter? And athletic is not better, obviously they are athletes.


So, basically we have several poorly named teams between the four major sports. There must be better choices out there, or at least more creative ones (Columbus Blue Jackets, Arizona Diamondbacks)
Well, that wraps it up for this entry.