Kansas City Mice- Mickey Mouse was created in KC in 1928.
Los Angeles Tide- Inspired by the vast number of beach tourists in the LA area.
Louisville Lumberjacks- Good alliteration and idk it just felt right.
Miami Luces- Spanish for lights.
Milwaukee Hogs- The Harley Davidson headquarters are in Milwaukee.
Minnesota Myth- Ever heard of Paul Bunyan?

(Edited to please fellow Minnesotans with the geographical name. Shout-out to JHA)

Last edited by ANDY! (5/03/2020 10:50 am)

I'll close the voting for Group A tonight and launch the Group B polls.  Stay tuned.

Just a thought on geographic identifiers and team names. I know that in some states, (PA, NC) there are distinct regions of the state with distinct culture. As QCS has expounded, Charlotte is quite different from the coastal areas and thus a North Carolina Pirates name would not be quite appropriate for a team there. Again, if there were teams in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, a Pennsylvania Miners team from Philadelphia would not make much sense because of the rich history in Philly and a name that spans an entire diverse state.

Often, the farther west you go (before hitting the West Coast), though, the more sense a state as a geographic identifier makes. Arizona and Colorado have embraced their state's teams mostly because there are not any other major cities or competing markets in the state. Since 1990, Phoenix teams have shifted to using Arizona and the new teams in Denver have used Colorado.

Early on the trend was Minnesota. After the Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles due to low attendance (speculated to be because Saint Paulites would refuse to support a Minneapolis team), Calvin Griffith, the owner of the Washington Senators, was ready to move his team to Minneapolis-St. Paul. He had learned the lesson that the Lakers had given and wanted to name the team the Twin Cities Twins. The AL said no, so the Minnesota Twins were born. The TC mark was used on the caps instead of an M because he did not want the good folks of St. Paul to think that this was Minneapolis's team. In 1987, the Twins were Minnesota's team enough to use the M on the caps. The Twins were able to unite the cities and the state. From that point onward, teams were given the Minnesota identifier more to show that this was not the endeavor of one city, but one state.

Minnesota has three distinct regions. The northeast has thick coniferous forests and a higher percentage of Scandinavian descent. The deciduous forests run in a band from the bluffs of the southeast to the Canadian border in the northeast. The prairie occupies the southwest and the border with the Dakotas and are home to many of German heritage. Though there are many cultural ties across the state, such as hotdish and ice fishing, the differing geographies lead to team nicknames from one part of the state specifically. The NFL's Vikings (the North, mostly), the MLB's Twins (the Twin Cities), the NBA and WNBA's Timberwolves and Lynx (North), the NHL's Wild (North), the AltHL's Loons (North, see a pattern?), and the U of Minnesota's Golden Gophers (South) all have names that do not themselves unite the state. What unites the state is the sports and the geographic identifiers. Fans from the rolling prairies by Marshall will still don the horned helmets or howl at the Target Center. Miners from the Mesabi Range in the north will still don the Gophers' maroon or plant a "This is Twins Territory" flag in their yard.

Things might be different if there were another metropolis in another part of the state (Missouri) or if there were some that were out of state but close (Chicago fans in Gary, IN). But Minnesota will likely continue to be used. Because a Minnesota United (MLS) is a Minnesota strong.

At the very least, that's how I, a country boy from the southern plains, see it.

And yes, Section30, if I get a chance, I will take the Minnesota team. No hard feelings.

JamHeronArk wrote:

Just a thought on geographic identifiers and team names. I know that in some states, (PA, NC) there are distinct regions of the state with distinct culture. As QCS has expounded, Charlotte is quite different from the coastal areas and thus a North Carolina Pirates name would not be quite appropriate for a team there. Again, if there were teams in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, a Pennsylvania Miners team from Philadelphia would not make much sense because of the rich history in Philly and a name that spans an entire diverse state.

Often, the farther west you go (before hitting the West Coast), though, the more sense a state as a geographic identifier makes. Arizona and Colorado have embraced their state's teams mostly because there are not any other major cities or competing markets in the state. Since 1990, Phoenix teams have shifted to using Arizona and the new teams in Denver have used Colorado.

Early on the trend was Minnesota. After the Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles due to low attendance (speculated to be because Saint Paulites would refuse to support a Minneapolis team), Calvin Griffith, the owner of the Washington Senators, was ready to move his team to Minneapolis-St. Paul. He had learned the lesson that the Lakers had given and wanted to name the team the Twin Cities Twins. The AL said no, so the Minnesota Twins were born. The TC mark was used on the caps instead of an M because he did not want the good folks of St. Paul to think that this was Minneapolis's team. In 1987, the Twins were Minnesota's team enough to use the M on the caps. The Twins were able to unite the cities and the state. From that point onward, teams were given the Minnesota identifier more to show that this was not the endeavor of one city, but one state.

Minnesota has three distinct regions. The northeast has thick coniferous forests and a higher percentage of Scandinavian descent. The deciduous forests run in a band from the bluffs of the southeast to the Canadian border in the northeast. The prairie occupies the southwest and the border with the Dakotas and are home to many of German heritage. Though there are many cultural ties across the state, such as hotdish and ice fishing, the differing geographies lead to team nicknames from one part of the state specifically. The NFL's Vikings (the North, mostly), the MLB's Twins (the Twin Cities), the NBA and WNBA's Timberwolves and Lynx (North), the NHL's Wild (North), the AltHL's Loons (North, see a pattern?), and the U of Minnesota's Golden Gophers (South) all have names that do not themselves unite the state. What unites the state is the sports and the geographic identifiers. Fans from the rolling prairies by Marshall will still don the horned helmets or howl at the Target Center. Miners from the Mesabi Range in the north will still don the Gophers' maroon or plant a "This is Twins Territory" flag in their yard.

Things might be different if there were another metropolis in another part of the state (Missouri) or if there were some that were out of state but close (Chicago fans in Gary, IN). But Minnesota will likely continue to be used. Because a Minnesota United (MLS) is a Minnesota strong.

At the very least, that's how I, a country boy from the southern plains, see it.

And yes, Section30, if I get a chance, I will take the Minnesota team. No hard feelings.

Excellent write-up. I never realized Minnesota had those three regions (then again, the only time I've ever visited was a quick layover in the airport while flying to Dallas [great airport, by the way]) so this is good to know. North Carolina also has three different regions, with very different cultures and honestly not a whole lot in common. The mountains region, the western part of the state, is the part of the state where the Appalachians cut through. This part has more in common with eastern Tennessee than the rest of the state given how different geographically it is. This is where most of the moonshine and such occurred, and the largest city is Asheville, which is pretty small. The Piedmont region pretty much stretches from Hickory to Raleigh, and includes the biggest cities. The cities are closer to Virginia while the rural areas are pretty Southern. Even then, Charlotte is very white-collar and very much a culturally developing city and Raleigh is a college town built on the Research Triangle. The Coastal region is from Raleigh east, and that's where all the piracy and stuff occurred. 

Looking at some sports nicknames, it's not quite as clear-cut as Minnesota's, however. The Panthers are actually something that applies to the whole state, since Carolina panthers actually did once roam the entire region. However, the Hornets are something very distinctly Charlotte and that's helped to endear them to the populace (and why we wanted the name back from New Orleans). Mecklenburg County specifically is the "Hornet's Nest" that the British referred to, not Raleigh, not Greensboro, not Wilmington, but Charlotte (although it was Charlottetown back then). The Hurricanes, on the other hand, are something Coastal, closer to Raleigh. Hurricanes rarely strike Charlotte (some exceptions do happen, like Hugo in 1989) and the city is commonly used as a temporary shelter for coastal citizens in both North and South Carolina because of how inland it is. That said, using the "Carolina" name makes less sense for the Canes because it's not a common experience throughout both states and Raleigh isn't exactly close to South Carolina, making the appeal of drawing those fans kinda pointless. 

I think overall doing research in good faith is important when trying to figure out team names. These teams end up representing the city, so they want to do a good job representing the city and its culture. For example, LA has plenty of transplant teams that kept their old name, which is appropriate for a city built on transplants (even if that's not entirely true anymore) while Seattle's teams all tap into different parts of the city (Seahawks, Native American culture, Mariners, Pacific Ocean and fishing, SuperSonics, aviation industry, and whatever the NHL team goes with will be unique and culturally important to the city) because that's what sports teams do nowadays. It's rare that a team moves without changing the name (with the exception of the Cal NFL teams, they all had history as LA "team name" and the Raiders brand is strong enough without Oakland) - SuperSonics -> Thunder, Whalers -> Hurricanes, Thrashers -> Jets, Oilers -> Titans, even Hornets -> Pelicans (eventually). I'd love it if we could have citizens of these cities weigh in and give their thoughts on what's emphasized by the city and what doesn't make as much sense, even if to an outsider it seems appropriate.

Hate to say this, but I did not nominate Bolts, my idea was Buffalo Buffaloes, the Bolts were nominated by Burmy. Glad to see all my other suggestions did well! Congrats to all the names who won. Big fan of the Cyclones and Bolts name!
My vote for the next round is the following:
Nashville Stars: Named after the cities history of Country Music Stars.
New York Flames: Atop lady liberty stands high her torch, her flames.
Orlando Wizards: A twist on Disney World
Philadelphia Rattlesnakes: Inspired from the Gadsden Flag.
Phoenix Roadrunners: A common animal found in the area.
Portland Cascaders: While a "Cascader" isn't a thing yet, Portland is in the Cascadia Subregion and I thought this was a pretty unique name.