Clint: What's the word for them?... I think it starts with a "T". They're big, furry and genuinely uninformed. They like to attack in the girls' bathroom at Hogwarts School. I just can't seem to recall what posters like them are called. Wait, I just remembered...they are TROLLS.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Bleacherbutt, drew_VT_6 and Clint Eastwood again. -G
and remember folks, you are only allwed to have an opinion on anything if you have gone to a Rhinos game.
Plus the logo is cool. Look at the 10th anniversary logo at the bottom of the page. http://www.rhinossoccer.com/ Doesn't it look like the "raging" part is separate. I like the name, but I think they will phase out that part. The fans can still call them whatever they want. Now, tell me that isn't a cool logo!!!!!
If you've got tradition, then I say go with it. Earthquakes, Sounders, Rhinos, Roughnecks...keep what you've used and is well known. If you don't have a lot of tradition (a team in, say, Salt Lake, Detroit, Philadelphia), then you can indulge the "traditional" crowd. Keeping Rhinos keeps civic pride and the fan base you've already built up. As for uniform tradition, is there such a thing? My team (FC Dallas) Is about to get red and white hoops, and we're esctatic. Blackburn kits are hedious. Juve wore PEACH? and are there no uniforms in the soccer world that break more traditional fashion laws OR get more approving nods than Mexican league kits? You Rochester folks are lucky and loyal. You'll be rewarded for it soon.
BRILLIANT! There is no way Rochester comes into the league as anything other than the Rhinos. Other than killing years of tradition so they could start from scratch, what would be the point?
Correction...some of you are happy about it, some of us aren't, and still others have a wait-and-see approach. Be careful who you're speaking about, because you are misrepresenting. Of course, I thought 100% that Dallas Burn needed changing, but FC Dallas isn't much better at all. It went from one idiotic extreme to the other. There is something called a happy medium, and not everyone is satisfied with the rebranding. Even still, everyone will never be. But as for my opinion on the uniforms, I didn't care either way yet. I need to see these new ones first to judge them. If they are candy canes, I'll thoroughly be disappointed. If they're tactfully done, I may enjoy/tolerate them. Of course, this is even more of an opinion matter than naming, because as you said, traditions for uniforms are unclear, nonexistant, not influencial, ever changing, unimportant, whatever, etc...
RFC for the professional club won't work since its already taken. One of the Select Club teams in Rochester is already RFC. They are rivals with the Jr. Rhinos who are affiliated with Rochester Raging Rhinos.
That logo is not cool. never was never will be. Its far too minor league looking. Extremely cheesy is what is called to mind. No one that participated in this thread is saying they should ditch the Rhino's wholesale. They just to modify the entire branding of the club. The Ragin' should be drop now, no matter what. They should just call themselves Rochester Soccer Club whilst retaining a Rhino on the crest and in the other branding materials...but it should not be the college basketball cartoony crap they are using now. I'm mean come on a soccer ball poking through the horn....LAME.
Maybe I don't find the name so bad because I was a fan of Syracuse's A-league team. I wish "The Salty Dogs" of Syracuse were looking into acquiring an MLS franchise. Imagine the hand-wringing then. If and when Rochester gets an MLS team, I'm sure management will get together and decide what to do about the name (keep it or change it). In the meantime the fans like it, and it's recognized in the community. Brand recognition is important. I only have two things left to say about whether Rochester's name is bad. 1)Club Deportivo Chivas USA 2) ReAL Salt Lake
If the NFL ever puts a team in Rochester, then your choice would be appropriate. We call it soccer here. Deal with it.
I prefer Lancers over Rhinos, but if they could make the logo less minor-league, it would be fine. Nothing wrong with Rhinos, though, IMHO.
Let the owner, team, and fans call their team what they want and to hell what MLS and others may think. Obviously USL don't care what their name or logo is. A lot of people like it..me too. Talk about lame names, how about the LA Goats????? Why don't they use english names instead of spanish? Same for 'Royal' Salt Lake, even though I like Real Salt Lake. Plain and simple...no singular nickname (Clash, Mutiny, Burn, etc). Long live the Rochester Ragin' Rhinos the way they are now....logo, name and ALL!!!!
Totally agree. They should keep the Rhino as part of the crest and logo, but ditch the "Ragin" thing and rebrand to RSC with "The Rhinos" as the nickname. This isn't professional roller hockey. As far as people claiming that we who do not support the club have no say in its name, well thats true to an extent. I don't have to live with it. However this is a forum devoted to discussing the promotion of the Rhinos to MLS and I care about what happens to MLS very deeply. Like I said this isn't professional roller hockey and this isn't a pee-wee league. We've got enough corny team names as it is. And no ones even saying to get rid of the "Rhinos" image completely.
The Toronto Raptors don't play in a Pee Wee league either. They just happen to have started in the 1990s not the 1890s or even 1950s. Like Confucious say, "Be yourself and do not make other be you."
If a team from Rochester was being itself, it wouldn't call itself the "Rhinos". I don't believe any rhinocerouses are on the team, or in Rochester at all. Rochester is Rochester, home of an abandoned subway, Kodak, RIT, etc. Just be Rochester!
Rochester would have a collective (albeit mild) heart attack if the Rhinos name was changed. It is linked inextricably with the team and recognizable throughout western New York. It doesn't help much to change the name to get fans around the country when it is the local fans alienated by the name change that are losing interest. While I personally love the name Rochester Football Club, changing the Rhinos name to that would spark off a youth soccer war that could last for generations. The Rhinos have an official youth premier club that has largely dominated New York at certain age groups and RFC is another youth premier club (used to be only boys but added girls teams just this year) that has traditionally challenged the Rhinos boys teams. Unfortunately, in Rochester parents tend to get very involved in every detail of their child's soccer 'career' and team rivalries can be more heated between the parents on the sidelines than the kids on the field. I don't say this to be disparaging, I have played youth soccer in Rochester and Pittsford for the past eight years and began reffing last year and have had some great experiences but I know how political the game can get up here in upstate New York where there's not much else to do. If you have to, get rid of the 'raging' but please leave us the Rhinos at least, if for nothing else than to let us complain while we sit in the car for half an hour waiting to get out of the Frontier Field parking lot after a game.
This is just my 2 cents: I don't live in Rochester. I don't even support the Rhinos. But i do respect them. They are the most decorated minor league team in the US. So I gotta respect them. If they ever get up to MLS, they should keep the name "Rhinos". They shouldn't change their name to something that sucks like Rochester S.C. or Rochester FC. Or United. Or Real Rochester. That sucks too (even if my beloved MLS clus is called DC United). Please keep the name "Rhinos". It has served the market very well for years. and it has a great tradition.
I sort of actually agree that the "Rhinos" moniker should be kept. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I don't have a problem with that. My beef is with the "Ragin'" part and the corny, cartoonish logo.