I like the MLS but i dont like the names of the teams. Fire, Columbus Crew(this is an awful name), Rapids, Wizards, Galaxy, Earthquakes. Can you not just call them something normal? I sort off favour DC United when im checking the MLS scores purely because of their name.
Well, I suggested Dynamo New England, FC Columbus, Chicago United, Rapid Colorado, Dallas Wednesday, AC DC, Los Angeles City, San Jose Villa, New York/New Jersey Metrosexuals, and Bayern Kansas City. But I got voted down.
that just traditionally how american sports teams are named in every sport. and it has been this way for over a hundred years. and while each name may seem stupid to you (and some of us), they all have some sort of meaning or connection related to their city. rapids - colorado river starts in this state. extremely for famous whitewater rafting. wizards - kansas city, kansas is where dorothy lived in the wizard of oz. wizards is also just a common sports nickname over here. galaxy - hollywood is where all the stars are. i used to think it was lame, but it grew on me. dallas burn - texas is one of the hottest places in the country chicago fire - named after the great 19th century fire that destroyed the city. a fireman's badge makes up the team crest columbus crew - very working class city, as in a work crew. dc united - the capital of the UNITED states of america. san jose earthquakes - the bay area in california is one of the most seismically active places in the world. new england revolution - boston and the rest of this region was the brewing ground for the american revolution. the patriots, new england's nfl team, is owned by the same man. metrostars - new jersey is part of the new york metropolitan area. they may sound weird to a foreigner, but this is how americans and canadians do things. check out baseball, hockey, basketball, and american and canadian football teams' names. they aren't much different. tottenham hotspur and aston villa sound pretty ********ing strange to a yank.
the names are an embarassment for anyone who is treying to bget people used to watching euro soccer to watch mls. i say we adopt drwanklers idea.
In defense of those who are about to be burnt alive. . . I think my first post to Big Soccer was of a similar vein. I simply did not think that ANYONE ELSE HAD EVER thought of this. Now after a few months on these boards, I'm bored to hell with seeing this pop up. Yes, some of the team names are questionable, even by U.S. Standards. But if you think that D.C. United is somehow above this, you are fvcking fooling yourself. Other countries' teams have some gawdawful names. Sporting Lisbon? River Plate? Grasshoppers? Athetico Madrid? (Sounds like a Gym you'd belong to). At least I know what city a team is in here. When I first started watching soccer, it took me a year to figure where the fvck half the premiereship was located. "WHere's this?" "London" "And this?" "London" "And this?" "East London" "What about. . ." "London" "Is there a team called 'London?'" "No" I'm not knocking the history of these clubs. I'm simply expressing that, if you're not from around here, maybe you should keep your big mouth shut.
Yeah. Cause people only watch because of the names. I'm sure if we change to Euro style names all the Eurosnobs will turn out in massive numbers, making MLS the biggest league in the world.
Just to dispell some ignorance (surely a losing battle) ... Earthquakes is as traditional a soccer team name as you'll find for a Northern Californian team. You had teams with the name Earthquakes in the NASL, some indoor leagues and more youth soccer leagues than you can imagine. Thinking back to my Northern California youth soccer experience I can recall playing right back (quite badly) for more than one team named the Earthquakes.
That's true, "The Strongest" is pretty cool. I didn't even get into the frickin' J-League. That is some seriously whacky stuff there. Actually, my favorite "Wha?" team name is the Kawasaki Frontale. That makes the Columbus Crew sound like Arsenal.
I'm sold on Wankler's names for Nowak's and Bradley's teams: AC DC and The Metrosexuals. The only name I think is truly in need of a change is the Wizards. It's already used in the NBA. They should call themselves Kansas City City. Or Kansas Football Club, and they could have some fast food Chicken place as their sponsor.
You lost me on the chicken thing... Is it because there are a lot of black people in Kansas City that like to eat chicken?
If my cursory internet research is correct, the Washington Bullets changed their name to the Wizards, officially, May 15, 1997. The Kansas City Wiz changed their name to the Wizards November 18, 1996. Soccer may be a second class sport, but Kansas City has (barely) precedence, and so if anybody's going to change their name, it ought to be Washington.
Absolutely! As a matter of fact, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Earthquakes name.* -G * Don't mind the "     " there, as that was HTML indentation that no longer works here after the recent BigSoccer software change.
I like the Bullets better (one of the best names in sports) and still refer to them as such. FYI DC United only has a little to do with being the capital of the USA, it came from a poll of the fans and one of the reasons it stuck was that the team "united" the DC metro region (DC, MD and NoVA).
How about the Peruvian club named Sport Boys? Not only that, but they wear pink jerseys. You gotta be tough to wear a pink jersey.