What with the White Sox in the playoffs and all, the Chicago Tribune had a great article about the names of sports teams. Many of them seem to include clothing. In the 1800s we seemed obsessed with "stockings;" there were the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the Boston Red Stockings, the St. Louis Brown Stockings, and the Toledo Blue Stockings. Can you imagine if we had "stocking" teams now? Then there were:

Minneapolis Red Jackets - 1929-30
Teutopolis (Illinois) Wooden Shoes - 1932 to present
New Riegel (Ohio) Blue Jackets - 1947 to present
Memphis Tam-O-Shanters - 1972 to 74
Columbus Blue Jackets - 2000 to present

Then there are some that seem to be about clothing, but really aren't:

Madison (Indiana) Argylls - This is an interesting name. In fact the name refers to the ancient Argyll county of Scotland, the home of the family that donated the land to the school.
Central Catholic Buttons (San Antonio) - These were named for baby rattlesnakes.
Moccasins of Florida Southern - They are named after the moccasin snake.
Blazers are either named for 'trailblazers' or for fire, not for the jacket.
Yellow Jackets are named for the wasp, and not a jacket.

What teams are named for clothing that you know of? How about other names...especially the strange ones?

The New York Knickerbockers?

I'm laughing at 'Knickerbockers', which wordcrafter mentioned here

Of course there are the animals, too, like the Bulls, Bears, Cubs, Lions and Tigers. I really like Marshall University's Thundering Herd!

What kind of names do British teams have?

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What kind of names do British teams have?

Football teams don't have names like that very often. Most are named after an area in a town or city, with words such as 'Town', City', 'Athletic', or 'United' after the place name. A few have names reflecting their origins as small clubs without even a ground of their own: Blackburn Rovers; Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The are a few oddities such as MK Dons, who were so named after they moved from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes; Crewe Alexandra; Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday.

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Football teams don't have names like that very often.

Oh...isn't that boring?

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Oh...isn't that boring?

Not half so boring as the game itself!