Team Names That Make No Sense

Before they moved to Calgary, the Flames played in Atlanta, beginning in 1972. Their nickname is a reference to the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War by General William T. Sherman. Since moving to Calgary, the Flames have won the Stanley Cup once, in 1989.

The Cleveland Browns made this list because their namesake spent more time resenting the team than leading it. Cleveland got its “Browns” nickname in honor of Paul Brown, its first coach and general manager. Brown was initially opposed to the choice, but relented. Brown was a great coach, but was fired in 1963 after butting heads with management. He went on to found the Cincinnati Bengals — the Browns’ big in-state rivals. His son Mike still owns the Bengals, who play in Paul Brown Stadium.

Thirty-five years ago, Colts owner Bob Irsay ordered his team to pack up and move in the middle of the night and head to Indianapolis from Baltimore. The team retained the Colts nickname, which is connected to Baltimore because of that area’s horse-breeding tradition. Indianapolis is known more for an event featuring a different kind of horsepower — the Indianapolis 500.

Before the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984 to make that city a two-team NBA town, the Clippers played in San Diego. Their nickname made sense in San Diego, where clippers, fast-sailing ships in the 19th century, made port. San Diego is also home to one of the nation’s largest naval bases. In Los Angeles, a city not known as a major seaport city, the nickname makes less sense.

The team got its nickname when it was based in Brooklyn, with the name referring to people who dodge street cars in the New York City borough. Los Angeles had little in the way of mass transportation when the Dodgers decamped to the West Coast after the 1957 baseball season. Nickname aside, the move has benefitted the Dodgers, who have won five world championships since moving to Los Angeles.

The Lakers were originally from Minnesota, which is sometimes called the “The Land of 10,000 Lakes” (actually 11,842). Los Angeles isn’t quite as blessed with that many bodies of water, but the alliteration was apparently too good to pass up. The Lakers, who had already won five titles in Minneapolis, extended their success in Los Angeles, winning 11 more championships.

The Grizzlies began their NBA life in 1995 in Vancouver, British Columbia, where there are many grizzly bears, but the team struggled, finishing last in five of the six years they were in Canada. When the team left for Tennessee, they took the Grizzlies nickname with them, even though there are no grizzly bears in Memphis. Things improved for the basketball franchise after the move.

The Raptors, who have been in the NBA since 1995, are in the NBA Finals for the first time this year. When the NBA expanded into Toronto, fans there were asked to choose a nickname for the new franchise. Eventually, the nickname Raptors was selected, reportedly because of the popularity of the newly released film “Jurassic Park,” which featured ravenous dinosaurs called velociraptors. Unlike the Nashville Predators, who get their name from saber tooth tiger fossils found in the city, Toronto has no velociraptor remains. Those fossils are only found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and China.

Of all the incongruous decisions to retain a sports nickname, the Utah Jazz might be the most puzzling. The team originated in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and never had a winning record in Louisiana. That likely hastened the team’s move to Utah, a state known for spectacular parks, but not jazz. Since moving west, the Jazz have played well in Utah, reaching the NBA Finals in back-to-back seasons in 1996-1997 and 1997-1998.

Before they moved to Washington, the team was called the Baltimore Bullets and retained the nickname after the move. But team owner Abe Pollin was becoming increasingly appalled by gun violence and wanted to jettison the Bullets nickname. Fans chose the name Wizards in a naming contest before the 1997-98 season. The name change didn’t free the franchise from controversy. The NAACP pointed out that the name wizard is associated with the Ku Klux Klan. While the Orlando Magic gets its supernatural nickname from the “Magic Kingdom” of nearby Disney World, most people would agree that there is nothing particularly magical about the nation’s capital.