Apparently the
New Orleans Hornets are considering changing their name to the Pelicans. And because of this possibility, Michael Jordan has stated that he wants to change the Bobcats back to the Charlotte Hornets.
(I assume there was no interest in Utah to allow New Orleans to have the "Jazz" back.)
Image Source
Now all we need is the
Arizona Cardinals to create a new name, so
St. Louis can have the Cardinals back. Then this will allow the new team in
Los Angeles to be the Rams, like they used to be. By the way, those Rams also used to be in Cleveland, and the Cardinals used to be in Chicago.. Thank goodness St. Louis still has its baseball Cardinals!
As far as the
Colts go, they moved from
Baltimore to
Indianapolis, keeping their name. Then the
Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore and became the
Ravens. Then when the new team was created in Cleveland, they jumped at the chance be the Browns again! That Cleveland team is the only one in all of this who had any sense! And remember the
Houston Texans had every opportunity to become the
Oilers, since that team changed its name to the
Titans when they moved to
Tennessee. It's also important to note that probably 99% of all Houston Texans fans don't even know the
Kansas City Chiefs used to be the
Dallas Texans.
Speaking of Kansas City, the origin of the
Royals has some crazy history too, but it's actually an original franchise. However, there was once a team in
Philadelphia called the
Athletics, who moved to KC and were the Kansas City Athletics for 13 seasons. But that team is now in
Oakland.
No wonder the Athletics decided to move in the first place. Philly also had the
Phillies. What on earth could be the significance of baseball's
Philadelphia Phillies? They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883.
(Source)
But what sucks about the New Orleans Hornets is that they were forced to play a season in
Oklahoma City before the
Seattle Supersonics came to town. So lots of OKC basketball fans, who became attached to the Hornets, suddenly had no team again. Very soon, however, they would be rewarded, to the chagrin of everyone in the city of Seattle, with the Supersonics - and called themselves the
Oklahoma City Thunder. Had the Hornets simply decided to just stay in OKC, the Supersonics could've gone to New Orleans, and then we'd have the New Orleans __
?___ Thunder? But then, the
Charlotte Hornets (being in OKC instead of New Orleans) may have not wanted to change their name to the
Pelicans, and I wouldn't have written this blog post in the first place.
But wait.. We all know that
Salt Lake City is not known for its jazz music. But are there any Grizzlies in
Memphis? I presume there must be at least one.. at their zoo. Same with the lakes of
Minnesota. Once upon a time,
Minneapolis had a basketball team called the Lakers, formerly the
Detroit Gems, who are now in
Los Angeles, and the rest is history.
Now that the
New Jersey (formerly
New York)
Nets are in
Brooklyn, I assume New Jersey is just flat-out screwed.
But at least you're not a
D.C. baseball fan. The original
Washington Senators decided to move to
Minnesota, and became the Twins. Then after being granted a new franchise (also called the Senators), 11 years after the original Senators moved to Minnesota, the second Senators moved to
Arlington, TX, and became the
Texas Rangers.
Oddly enough though, I don't think any teams have anything on the
Sacramento Kings. They began in
Rochester, NY as the Rochester Royals. After 37 years, they moved to
Cincinnati, and were the Cincinnati Royals for 15 years. Then they moved to
Kansas City and changed their name to the Kings to avoid confusion with their baseball Royals.
Image Source
(What! Why?? Two St. Louis organizations obviously didn't have a problem both being the Cardinals in both baseball and football!)
Anyway, thirteen years later they moved to California, and became the
Sacramento Kings. Now this Sacramento Kings team is seriously considering moving to
Norfolk, VA to become either the Virginia Kings or the NorfolkKings. I seriously hope they choose the former rather than the latter. Yeah I intentionally left no space. That pronunciation is just not nice at all.
I won't even get into hockey or soccer. Nor will I mention any of these:
∙ Buffalo Braves - San Diego Clippers - L.A. Clippers
∙ Baltimore Orioles - New York Highlanders - New York Yankees
∙ Milwaukee Brewers - St. Louis Brewers - St. Louis Browns - Baltimore Orioles
∙ Boston Braves - Milwaukee Braves - Atlanta Braves
∙ Seattle Pilots - Milwaukee Brewers ..(Seattle Mariners)
∙ [Brooklyn Dodgers --> L.A. Dodgers
~&~New York Giants --> San Francisco Giants]
∙ The Redskins used to be in Boston. Hmm...
I know one thing. If Tottenham ever decides to move its soccer team to San Antonio, we might be in trouble!
Sources: Wikipedia's "Relocation of Professional Sports Teams", and Philly's, and Cincy's
Posts
