Do you like when teams name themselves after states/provinces?

[talkinaway]

Massachusetts' major sports teams are very accurately named. The Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics all play right in the city of Boston.

I can't imagine the disappointment someone from far out-of-state must feel if they're saving up money to see a Patriots game, and think they'll visit the Freedom Trail and Faneuil Hall the morning of the game. The Patriots are closer to the Providence Bruins than they are to the Boston Bruins.

I fully endorse Tampa's bitterness over the Florida name. Yes, "Florida Panthers" are an animal. But, since I don't live in Florida and I'm not really a Nat Geo fanatic, they're an animal I only know about because of the hockey team. Which is a good thing, I suppose, since the species is endangered. But heck, let BOTH teams be Florida, or don't let either team take it. Seems like a crafty move by the '93 Panthers brass to railroad the NHL into giving them the Florida moniker.

 

[HisIceness]

I bet what's really weird is the fact they have never played in Charlotte and actually started in Greensboro no?

They played the first two seasons at the Greensboro Coliseum while the PNC Arena in Raleigh was under construction. Greensboro was always temporary.

In 20 seasons, they've played only one preseason game in Charlotte, one But that's a topic for another thread. At least the AHL team plays here

New York is also a city?

EDIT: Just checked. Yes, there is an actual New York City.

You, you were joking right?

 

[RDTBay4]

New York is also a city?

EDIT: Just checked. Yes, there is an actual New York City.

 

[Lshap]

State and city

You, you were joking right?

It's so much more fun to leave out the 'smiley face' or 'wink' emoji and let people wonder.

 

[Roksta]

It's so much more fun to leave out the 'smiley face' or 'wink' emoji and let people wonder.

Cant really blame you for New York, I would be mind blowned too if you told me there was also a Quebec City in the Quebec province for example

 

[Phunhog]

The Miami Marlins ditched Florida

How do you feel about the Golden State? As a kid I had no idea what city they played in. For some reason I felt bad for them, cause they sucked for so long that I thought no city wanted to claim them

 

[Leafsdude7]

The only one where I find it *slightly* distasteful is Florida, because they were the second team in the state (Lightning = 1992, Panthers =1993).

It takes some brass cojones to be the second team in a state, and claim to represent the entire state.

In fairness, they probably chose Florida more due to the animal they were named after (the Florida panther) than because they were claiming to represent the state.

Not that it excuses it, but just feel it's worth pointing out.

 

[JayP812]

The Miami Marlins ditched Florida

How do you feel about the Golden State? As a kid I had no idea what city they played in. For some reason I felt bad for them, cause they sucked for so long that I thought no city wanted to claim them

As a Warriors fan, "Golden State" is without a doubt the dumbest name in professional sports. Three other teams play in California, and although it is our state's official nickname, no one calls it that. I guess they were too embarrassed to call them the Oakland Warriors based on the stigma the city mostly wrongfully gets.

 

[tarheelhockey]

In fairness, they probably chose Florida more due to the animal they were named after (the Florida panther) than because they were claiming to represent the state.

Not that it excuses it, but just feel it's worth pointing out.

But it's not like they chose the animal first and then realized after the fact, "hey wait this means we have to be called Florida, oh that's too bad".

They knew exactly what they were doing when they chose the Florida Panther as their moniker. It's incredibly ballsy. It would be like if San Francisco got a team and called themselves the California Condors.

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

Yeah, I don't like the idea of the "Florida" Panthers, when TB was there first, although it flows better than Miami Panthers I guess. I guess you just have to know the Panthers are the Miami area team and originally played in Miami. I get that New Jersey Devils sounds better than Newark Devils, and especially before when they played in East Rutherford, NJ, what were you going to call them? But everybody knows half of NJ hates the Devils(sizable Rangers minority in North Jersey, South Jersey is firmly Flyers country). Arizona I'm fine with, but change it back to Phoenix if they move back to Phoenix. Colorado's fine, I guess. Carolina is good because it allows SC to feel like part of the fanbase.

 

[Devils Army]

State and city

Whooosh

 

[Hakroach]

How about the Sens renaming themselves Ontario Senators and Leafs changing to Canadian Maple Leaves.

And the Flyers to Pennsylvania Flyers and Pens to Bettman Penguins

/troll

Edit: seriously, this doesn't really matter. It's only a name. It only needs to sound somewhat cool.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Doesn't bother me.

 

[AD Skinner]

I know it'll never happen, but something about the Raleigh-Durham Hurricanes rolls off the tongue.

 

[Ms Maggie]

That is a very great point and I am glad you brought that up. When I think of Florida hockey I think of Tampa Bay. Although technically the Tampa Bay Lighting are kind of unique were your team should be technically called just Tampa Lighting because that is the city name but I feel Tampa Bay Lighting sounds way better.

Tampa Bay is the larger metro area, includes St. Pete, Clearwater etc. The Tampa Bay Rays are physically located in St. Pete.

 

[Super Hans]

The final award in the Battle of Alberta is the rights to use the province name.

Introducing: the Alberta Flames.

 

[rojac]

The Miami Marlins ditched Florida

How do you feel about the Golden State? As a kid I had no idea what city they played in. For some reason I felt bad for them, cause they sucked for so long that I thought no city wanted to claim them

I believe the switch from Florida to Miami for the Marlins was part of the deal for their new park.

Similarly, I'm pretty sure that city investment in the team or the stadium is responsible for the following changes:

Phoenix to Arizona Cardinals
Phoenix to Arizona Coyotes
California to Anaheim Angels (Later Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)
Los Angeles to Anaheim Rams

 

[rojac]

Tampa Bay is the larger metro area, includes St. Pete, Clearwater etc. The Tampa Bay Rays are physically located in St. Pete.

Tampa Bay is the body of water and the general nickname for the whole area. There is no actual community named Tampa Bay.

 

[Super Hans]

I know it'll never happen, but something about the Raleigh-Durham Hurricanes rolls off the tongue.

Fans can throw candy canes on the ice when they go down a goal. Rally Canes!

 

[Legionnaire11]

The arena also basically sits on the Tampa Bay. And the team started out in St. Pete I believe, so it made sense to make a more inclusive name.

Florida Panthers it has already been said that it's named after the animal, it would make no sense to be called the Miami Panthers. And who cares if they play in Sunrise, even if they chose not to be called Florida, they would not be called Sunrise, they'd be called Miami. I'm pretty sure you can take the people mover from downtown Miami to the arena, it's not like Sunrise is 30 miles away or anything. And there are several pro teams who aren't technically in the city limits. Unless you're one of the morons who hates when people living in a metro are say that they're from that city (no joke, people really do get upset about that, I think they're 15 years old).

New Jersey Devils are obviously named after the Jersey Devil, it would have been really stupid to call them the East Rutherford Devils or the Newark Devils. They probably would have gone with New York before anything else if they didn't use New Jersey.

Colorado, I don't know, I think Denver would have been a good choice. The Denver area teams cover a wide area of the west in terms of viewership, Denver is the main city for much of the West, so it would have probably been more inclusive to go with Denver.

Minnesota, they would rather use the state nickname than the city so that each of the twin cities is included.

I'm surprised that Columbus wasn't the Ohio Blue Jackets, since Columbus isn't usually the first thing that most people think of in Ohio (Cleveland and Cincinnati?)

Here in Nashville we have the Tennessee Titans, but they first moved to Memphis and didn't get a stadium deal there before settling in Nashville, so they've actually had a home in two major cities in the same state, makes sense to go with the state for the name.

I guess there's good reasons all around for choosing state or name when naming a franchise. I've never had a problem with it either way, it's not difficult to look into the why, or to learn where exactly a particular team is located. Do people really just not attempt to learn anything ever?

 

[Lempo]

I know it'll never happen, but something about the Raleigh-Durham Hurricanes rolls off the tongue.

It would kill us to read all the Duchene for RDH+ trade ideas.

Kill us dead.

Rallydurum sounds like a town straight out of Asterix though.

 

[Ms Maggie]

Tampa Bay is the body of water and the general nickname for the whole area. There is no actual community named Tampa Bay.

Oh for the love of God. It's what that metro area is called. I lived there, trust me. The major paper is the Tampa Bay News, headquartered in St. Pete.

Somebody suggested the team should be the Tampa Lightning as the team is from Tampa. I was pointing out that the area is called Tampa Bay. Geez.

At the end of the day, the owners can call their team what they please. Talk about first world problems.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I know it'll never happen, but something about the Raleigh-Durham Hurricanes rolls off the tongue.

We're naming them after the airport now?

 

[Lempo]

We're naming them after the airport now?

Dallas-Fort-Worth Stars! is also one mean chant.

 

[The Podium]

Leafs changing to Canadian Maple Leaves.

Now thats a name I can get behind, although keeping it as Leafs