What’s wrong with “Warthogs?”

Remember how, in the early 90s, team nicknames took a turn towards the intangible? The Heat and the Magic spring to mind, but there were many others.

I thought the trend had died, but the renaming of the Supersonics (itself a rather conceptual nickname) to the “Thunder” seems to have revived this ugly business. Now it’s extending to baseball:

So long, Warthogs. The Twin City’s minor-league baseball team has a new name — the Winston-Salem Dash.

Kevin Terry, the team’s president who came on board over the summer with a new management group, Los Angeles-based Mandalay Sports Entertainment, said the Dash provided the best marketing and merchandising options among the five names considered as finalists.

“There’s a good community tie-in (because of the hyphen in the city’s name), and it has that connotation of speed that goes right along with baseball,” Terry said.

Ugh. And it gets better! According to the article “Mandalay’s own graphic designers did most of the work on the new purple, black and silver logo.”

I assume that by “silver,” they meant “teal.”


9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
mkd
15 years ago

Hey, the Supersonics were named after a really fast jet (the Boeing 2027 Supersonic Transport). Sure, the project never got off the ground (hehehe), but the Soops were definitely named after something concrete.

There’s a good community tie-in (because of the hyphen in the city’s name)

That’s gotta be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. Seriously. That is DUMB.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

“the Soops were definitely named after something concrete.”

Will if the 2027 Supersonic Transport was concrete, no WONDER it never got off the ground.

/so sorry

TC
15 years ago

Playing any sports video game growing up that possessed a Create-A-Team option, invariably, I’d create the grey and yellow clad New Jersey Turnpike. 

Personally, I’d like to see more over the topness in team naming.  The Portland Hammer of Thor.  The Schuylkill River Punch (local joke!  lollerz!).  The Las Vegas Hangovers. 

Also, the Superbas.  Somewhere.  Anywhere.  Please.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Big Superbas fan.  Had a Commodore 64 sim baseball game in which my mega-team was the Superbas.

Now all my sim league teams are called the Matewan Massacre.  Because nothing says fun like the West Virginia coal wars!

Laurence Davison
15 years ago

I’ve thought for a long time, but never found the right forum to mention, that the Utah Jazz is a hilarious name.

I have decided that the burghers of Salt Lake City wanted a pretty racy, dangerous name for their team but when it came down to it were just a tad too conservative to go with anything post-1956.

Either that or Jazz is still considered to be a preserve of reefer crazed commies in Utah.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Or because the team moved to Utah from New Orleans:

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/norleans/nojazz.html

Laurence Davison
15 years ago

That is also possible. But come on, I’m British, live in Australia and care about this >< much about the NBA. Can’t you just let me have my fun?

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Sorry. I’m in a humorless mood this evening.  Seems we’ve run out of scotch at Chez Shyster, and my mellow just isn’t happening.

Richard Dansky
15 years ago

Purple, black, and silver? What, do they think they bought a roller derby franchise?