Orlando City S.C. - What do we call the supporters?

Orlando history, you say:

A great deal of this area was settled by cattlemen and citrus ranchers in the middle-ish nineteenth century. From that you could derive a pair of memes:

1) Pioneers: which they were, every bit as much as the more commonly known pioneers of the Oklahoma land rush, etc., and were settling Florida and Central Florida in roughly the same time period.

2) Crackers: first dismiss the obvious PC-garbage having to do with race/identity politics, because the derivation of this term refers to the cattlemen I just mentioned, according to lore either because of the "cracking" of whips while herding cattle, or from chewing on raw grain as some kind of snack or something, but chewing or "cracking" the grain with their teeth, most likely because 7-11's and electric snack machines featuring a nice, yummy Snickers bar were quite well and truly rare on the Florida frontier 150 years ago. It may be argued that a Supporters group named "Crackers" might be a bit less than appealing to some segments of the population and that should be taken into consideration, but it bears knowing the actual origin of the name.

Let me think a bit more and I'll burp up a few other ideas. For the time being I, for one, will sorta steer clear of the NASA-related connotations, especially since that's already been invoked for the "Odyssey" name, which I still find exceptional.

One last point: this will be an interesting exercise. This area has history; it has patterns and traditions. But they are almost universally blotted out like an eclipse, by the tourism and theme park element that have been the eight-hundred pound (mouse) gorilla around these parts for nearly forty years.

 

When I was a kid, my uncle owned two citrus groves in greater Orlando. A total of about one hundred acres. My cousins and I treated the place like a gigantic backyard that came with its own snacks for a few months each year, in the form of fresh fruit. The freezes through the Eighties and early Nineties whacked the trees around pretty bad, but both properties survived just fine, although largely due to a work ethic in my uncle that would leave just about anyone breathless, literally and figuratively. But in the summer of '04, hurricane Charley slopped a dose of citrus canker across the middle two thirds of the entire peninsula, and trees that had stood for between twenty and in some cases more than sixty years were swept away by the Department of Agriculture in Tallahassee in a matter of days solely for the purpose of "protecting" the rest of the crop/economy.

So, concepts to riff from:
- peninsula (yes, Tampa and Miami are on the same peninsula, but still)
- The Orangemen (yes, Syracuse could sue us; plus, we still haven't heard if burgundy is the team color or not, so orange may not fit, anyway.)



More later.

 

I forgot one minor point: there is a local high school, Oak Ridge down toward the south-ish part of town, whose mascot is the Pioneers. To my mind, that doesn't really mean anything, but it's worth noting. And as a side note, in years past when I sorta daydreamed about what an Orlando pro soccer team would look like, the notion of "Pioneers" always had a purity about it, at least at minimum because it really hadn't been done anywhere in the big college programs or any of the major sports leagues. Some of the very best team names/mascots down through history have rather deeply invoked the sense of the people from which the team drew its support. The Yankees is one the best examples, along with the Steelers or the Celtics. (I am and have been a Magic fan, but if "magic" just generally invokes the notion of having some sort of "magical" vacation, I can accept that, but I can't really say I've ever liked it; it's not the kind of thing you go into battle with and are inspired to grind out victory, it's more like something you use to get your kids to finally go to bed with on the night before you fly to Orlando from Cleveland or someplace, to spend your annual quality time with Uncle Mouse.)

 

Ours, OCSC, are red, white, and blue? I hadn't heard. That's great. I love it when Bayern works in the whole red-white-blue thing in their colors, even though they're most always just red. But still, that's pretty cool. Glad to hear it.

 

I think the name "Chanticos Army" might be available.

 

Maybe we could get some walk-up business in ticket sales from the PETA nimrods who'd certainly be protesting a name like, "cow hunters." (I kid.)

 

How about we honor the supporters in Austin and try to invoke a sort of equivalent Indian-type name. The Austin name is "Aztex," so maybe a Central Florida tribal name would be an option. If I recall my 4th Grade Florida History, there's the Timucuan tribe, who were named after a very nice country club up in Lake Mary. (Maybe it was the other way around, I'm not sure...)

But anyway, "Timucuan" could have some riffability to it.

 

Great ideas. We have been contemplating this matter for some weeks. All attending our meetings have agreed that a soccer team supporters group needs to possess a respect for history, a bit of irreverence and a good deal of humor. I think we all agree the Sons of Ben serve as a good template for this. Let's break their logo down.

They use an image of Ben Franklin (history). Of course they use his skull (irreverence) complete with his bifocals (humor). With the kite background, crossed boat oar and scythe; the whole thing looks like a pirate flag (history, irreverence and humor). We think we need to go in this direction.

If we are to be hated because we are beautiful than let them hate. But
we will not back down, ever.

Keep the ideas coming.

Remember boys, "Soccer is life...City 'til we die!"

 

The thing about being a "City" rather than a specific mascot is that it opens up not just the supporters group, but the whole "nickname" thing in general - this doesn't just have to be a nickname for the fan groups but can be for the team as a whole.

For example - Stoke City are the Potters, Man Utd the Red Devils, in Spain you have Los Meringues, Los Cules etc.

So we should be thinking of nicknames that would resonate as a nickname for the whole club as well as just for the fanatics. Steering clear of anything with a racial or remotely negative undertone (Orangemen might not sit well with Catholics for example, Crackers....obviously) would be a good guideline - tying in with the history of the area is obviously a great idea (and would appeal to the English brethren too - hence they have Potters, Hatters, Tractor Boys etc).