Sports Team Nicknames

Are you confused about sports nicknames? I refer to the team nickname that follows the city in which the team is based. I am not quite sure why a team needs a nickname because the city name itself gives the fan all the information he or she needs to know which city or nation the team represents. But maybe the teams have nicknames because it helps to sell merchandise with the team logo (that is a whole other E mail....I am sticking to writing about team nicknames today) and nickname imprinted. You know...those jerseys and hats with the favored team ID that fans wear at the stadium to show support. Or maybe the nicknames, once coined to help the fan identity something about the team city or nation that the team wants us to know, serve to better identify the team and city. For instance, the National hockey league Colorado Avalanche tells us that there are mountains there and that we should never go to Colorado because we might be buried in an avalanche...uh....never mind,...bad example.
But whatever the reason for having sports team nicknames I think they are a mess. Most are repetitious (how many "Tigers" are there out there playing those games?), bizarre (The Tall Blacks is the nickname of the Australian National basketball team), obscure (Ever hear of the Madrid Colchoneros soccer club? Colchoneros means "mattress makers".... a team that can't apparently can't decide whether to kick the ball or take a nap) or the unexplainable (The Australian Rules football team in New South Wales is called the 'Cockroaches"). I find that most nicknames for the teams are ion the first category, a repetition of the same nicknames, mostly after animals of some sort. Besides the many "tigers" we have an endless number of teams all over the world named for animals such as lions, bears, ducks, eagles even the long lost dragon. I think whomever owns those teams just lacks imagination and didn't want to think too much when coming up with the team nickname.
Even though the scores of a team can be listed more easily in the newspaper or an internet web site without a team nicknames, some nicknames are cute or endearing and do make the fan more fuzzy and friendly toward the team, even when it stinks from losing most of its games. Those nicknames I have no objection too,. In fact, our local NFL football team here in New Orleans has a great team name It's the New Orleans Saints. Haha I could say it was named after me because I am saintly, but no one would believe that since it is a completely untrue assertion. Actually naming a sports team after a sacred religious name like "saints" was a daring move at the time. Some people here thought it was sacrilegious (even thought the name was in honor of jazz, through the most famous jazz song here in the city of jazz "When The Saints Go Marching In", and not for those religious saints) and it wasn't officially named that until the local Archbishop (we are a Catholic city) intervened and said he didn't think God would mind if we borrowed the Saints for our football team nickname. No one here thinks much about the association with the heavenly saints when we see our team play, probably because it doesn't win very often and looks as if the saints long ago abandoned it.
In addition to the "Saints" I have some other favorite sports team nicknames that make me feel warm and fuzzy toward the team that uses it. How about these, for instance.
- The Adeline Croweaters (My opinions are wrong so much I often have to "eat crow' through embarrassment. I can relate to this team.
- The Melbourne Kangaroos (Is there a more loved animal than the kangaroo. No one can hate them)
- The Green Bay Packers (as in meat packers. Who could root against a team of hard working, dirty job meat packers who give us the meat we so love to eat?)
- Japanese Sumurai (I would die to see them play)
- Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Must be George Bush's team?)
- Sao Paulo Bambis (Yep, after the Disney cartoon deer "Bambi")
- The Steel Roses (China's women's national soccer team...Wow! Those ladies must be tough. I am not going to cheer against them)
- The Boys In Green (The nickname for the Irish national rugby team. For some reason I have an image of the boys in green as being the gay boys in green)
- Papua New Guinea Mosquitoes (I am itching to see them play)
Ok, those are a few of my favorites. What about yours? Do you have sports nickname in mind that you either hate or love? Any suggestions for a sports nickname not yet in use? Heck! You can even give me a nickname if you want. (Don't be cruel)