What's in a name?

John Hoh
Thursday November 29, 2007

A few months ago it was announced that the Las Vegas Gladiators were moving out of Vegas. Their destination for a new home is Cleveland, with Cleveland icon Bernie Kosar investing in the team.

To date they have yet to select a nickname. The Cleveland Leader newspaper appears to be getting anxious about that. A columnist wondered why Bernie, Ferraro, and company didn’t role out a nickname and uniforms in time for Christmas shopping when such apparel and doo-dads are popular. A dollar missed, they say.

I suspect there must be some name possibilities being considered. I haven’t found any "Name the Team” contest at either the newspapers or the team’s web site. Yes, I myself would have entered such a contest, even though I do not live in Cleveland.

I think the name "Cleveland Ironmen" or “Cleveland Ironworkers” reflects the heritage of Cleveland. I am reserving “Iron” for the time a team may be located in Milwaukee and want to reflect the “iron” heritage of the venerable Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

For a touch of pizzazz AFL teams have been known for in names, there is always the possibility of “Cleveland Rockers” as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame resides in Cleveland.
 
”Cleveland Sandy Taupes” would be a play off Bernie’s original team, the cross-town NFL Browns.

 But does a team need a nickname? In baseball’s early years nicknames were a vague concept. Baseball cards stated a player played for the New York Americans or New York Nationals or Brooklyn Nationals. Usually sportswriters applied monikers to teams. And usually these sportswriters were fascinated by socks—the Tigers wore striped socks, the Cardinals and Reds/Redlegs red socks, the Browns had brown socks, etc. The Chicago-St. Louis-Phoenix-Arizona Cardinals of the NFL were so named because they inherited faded red jerseys discarded by the University of Chicago. But that was in the "dark ages" of sport. No one knew the power of branding then. There were no licensing fees. Is that an indication as to whether a team can go without a nickname?
 
I direct you to Exhibit A, a Canadian Football League entry in Baltimore, Maryland. This was when the CFL thought there was gold in “them thar states.” Originally the Baltimore franchise wanted to use the name "Colts." Fair enough. The Colts had been part and parcel of Baltimore until they were snuck out of town under cover of darkness. The glory years of Colt football resides still in Baltimore. In a Cleveland twist, the former Browns franchise left Cleveland for Baltimore. An attempt to reclaim the “Colts” name was nixed when the Irsay family asked an astronomical price for that nickname. I wonder what the Indy team would have called itself then? And would all Colt records revert to the new Colts in Baltimore?
 
But the NFL sued to prevent the Baltimore CFL franchise from using the name "Colts." They had an exclusive right to that name. Of course, they didn’t complain that the CFL British Columbia franchised shared the "Lions" name with the Detroit NFL franchise. Go figure.
 
So for a year the franchise in Baltimore playing a schedule against CFL opponents was known simply as "Baltimore CFL." This doesn’t mean the denizens of Baltimore didn’t have some fun. Allegedly the PA announcer would announce "Your Baltimore CFL…" and the crowd would shout out "Colts!" Sneaky, eh?
 
Baltimore, with or without a nickname, didn’t let a lack of a nickname hinder it. This franchise was the most successful American CFL franchise both on and off the field in the CFL’s failed attempt to expand south of the border. And when the franchise finally went with "Stallions," it remained successful and proved to be the only American winner of the Grey Cup.
 
The Stallions may have stayed in Baltimore. They relocated to Montreal and became the latest incarnation of the Allouettes when Art Model flew his Browns from Cleveland into town, where they morphed into Ravens. Can you imagine the anti-American sentiment in Canada had the Stallions stayed and dominated CFL league play?

I have seen suggestions to retain the “Gladiators” moniker or to re-use the “Thunderbolts” nickname from a previous Cleveland team. But will the market associate those names with incompetent teams?

There is a history of early NFL teams changing nicknames when they changed cities. The Portsmouth Spartans became the Detroit Lions. The Decatur Staleys retained the “Staley” name for only one year in Chicago. Seems to have been a contractual obligation as the Staley Starch Company was still sponsoring Hallas’s team. The Frankfort Yellowjackets actually stayed in Philly, but changed their nickname when they decided to go all-city. The Miami Seahawks became the Baltimore Colts—for a year. The Braves became the Redskins before they moved from Boston to Washington, so I’m not sure that counts.

Only the Cardinals retained their nickname from Racine Street (in Chicago) to Chicago-at-large to St. Louis to Phoenix/Arizona.

Not that the change of locale/nicknames have helped the following Arena teams:

• Memphis Pharaohs/Portland Forest Dragons/Oklahoma Wranglers
• New York CityHawks/New England Sea Wolves/Toronto Phantoms
• Sacramento Attack/Miami Hooters/Florida Bobcats
• Texas Terror/Houston ThunderBears
• Las Vegas Sting/Anaheim Piranhas 

So if they don’t choose a nickname in Cleveland all too soon, or even for this upcoming season, I say, "Don’t worry." Take your time, pick out a good name. Make Cleveland proud.
 
And perhaps focus on running a successfully franchise, on and off the field.