Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Favourite sporting nicknames

Monado & I were just chatting about sporting nicknames. Her favourite is the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the Century Hockey League (ice hockey in Louisiana!).

Here are some of mine:

- Anteaters (University of California, Irvine)
- Banana Slugs (University of California, Santa Cruz)
- Horned Frogs (Texas Christian University)
- Salukis (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
- Columbus Blue Jackets (National Hockey League)
- Atlanta Thrashers (National Hockey League)

What these all have in common is that they’re far from the Bearcat, Wildcat, Fighting this or that, Warrior names; they don’t take themselves too seriously. But the Horned Frogs and Salukis are Division I programmes with particularly good football and basketball teams; so they can take themselves seriously if they wish.

Worst name? Most names are just mediocre (I know that’s illogical!), but the most inappropriate is probably the Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (i.e., West Point). A black knight is a knight who’s painted over his arms, who owes loyalty to no one, who looks after his own interests; surely very far from the ethos of the U.S. Army’s officer corps. (Nice, brief discussion, as so often, in Wikipedia.)

4 Comments:

Blogger Monado said...

The "Banana Slugs" are kind of a cute name, too.

12:06 p.m.  
Blogger LotStreetWiz said...

I can’t believe I forgot the Buckeyes of the Ohio State University—named after a tree!

12:08 p.m.  
Blogger Monado said...

The "Buckeye" is also a butterfly with a big eyespot on the hind wings.

12:10 p.m.  
Blogger Monado said...

If I ever have a team they'll be the Aardwolves.

12:15 p.m.  

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