Help with team nicknames

[Icy]

I'm working on an OOTP fictional league with 36 teams. All them based in North America, and divided in two sub leagues (NA League North and NA League South). Each subleague is divided in 3 divisions of teams each, East, West and Central. I selected 36 big cities and placed them geographically sorted in the proper sub league and division.

As my knowledge of American history/tradition is limited, i would like to ask you guys for two things:

1) Are the cities a good selection based on city size and location? And the sub-leagues/divisions?

2) Can you please guys come with a nickname for each team based on it's city history, tradition, industry, population, etc? OOTP can generate random ones, but i would prefer those nicknames to represent something related to that city and not already used in the MLB, NBA or NFL.

Here is the league structure:

NALN East	NALS East
Philadelphia	Miami
Boston	Tampa
New York	Jacksonville
Washington	Atlanta
Baltimore	Charlotte
Toronto	Cincinnati
NALN Central	NALS Central
Minneapolis	Memphis
Chicago	San Antonio
Kansas City	Oklahoma City
Milwaukee	Dallas
Detroit	Houston
Cleveland	St.Louis
NALN West	NALS West
Seattle	Los Angeles
Portland	San Diego
San Francisco	Las Vegas
Oakland	El Paso
Sacramento	Phoenix
Denver	San Jose

Thanks in advance.

[MizzouRah]

No St. Louis?

[rkmsuf]

Cleveland Steamers

[Maple Leafs]

Toronto in the West? They're going to have some mighty high travel costs.

[Dr. Sak]

That was money rkmsuf

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Toronto in the West? They're going to have some mighty high travel costs.

Yeah, I'd swap Denver and Toronto. Denver can be in the West and Toronto can be in the Central.

[Dr. Sak]

How about The Las Vegas Strip

[Pumpy Tudors]

In the NALS East, is that Columbus, Georgia, or Columbus, Ohio?

[Young Drachma]

Philadelphia Colonials Miami Gigantes
Boston Minutemen Tampa Tarpons
New York Empires Jacksonville Villians
Washington Presidents Atlanta Rebels
Baltimore Charms Charlotte Hornets
Cleveland Lakers Columbus Pilots

[rkmsuf]

Where is the fucking NH team?

[Young Drachma]

Speaking of team nicknames, I have to say that the engineered solution that let Cleveland 'keep' the Browns and gave Baltimore an expansion team with players was pretty revolutionary.

I was just messing around googling Baltimore and ran across this and I guess the strangeness of it to me, was retrospectively brilliant, even if the execution itself was otherwise poor.

Too bad baseball didn't come up with this idea back in the 50s.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

In the NALS East, is that Columbus, Georgia, or Columbus, Ohio?

By population it should be Columbus (OH) right? i mixed it with the Georgia one that is more at the East, so i have replaced it with Cincinnati.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Yeah, I'd swap Denver and Toronto. Denver can be in the West and Toronto can be in the Central.

Ok thanks, swapped.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

No St. Louis?

With city would you replace by St.Louis?

[Young Drachma]

Tulsa. I'd replace Tulsa with St. Louis.

And you don't really need a team in Seattle and Tacoma. Just one in Seattle would suffice. Boise would be better or another California team or Vancouver.

[Racer]

If you decided to have a team be in Indianapolis, you could call them the Indianapolis Naps. Indianapolis is nicknamed Naptown although I'm not sure why. I'm pretty sure the nickname has been around for a long time.

[lighthousekeeper]

Boston Beaneaters
Philly Keystones
Chicago Gangsters
Portland Peaks

[JonInMiddleGA]

Most obvious logo-friendly thing for ATL would be the Atlanta Phoenix.
(the mythical firebird is the city symbol, representing its rise from the ashes)

[Sgran]

Chicago Broad Shoulders

[Dr. Sak]

Boston Spies

[rkmsuf]

Denver Ninja Timeouts

[sooner333]

Oklahoma City Roughnecks

[Toddzilla]

look up each city in Wikipedia - often the city has a nickname, that or the city history should give you some nice clues.

[rkmsuf]

Philadelphia Bowling Inferno

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Tulsa. I'd replace Tulsa with St. Louis.

And you don't really need a team in Seattle and Tacoma. Just one in Seattle would suffice. Boise would be better or another California team or Vancouver.

Agreed.

St. Louis Clydesdales
St. Louis Steamers

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Philadelphia Bowling Inferno

Philadelphia's clear across the state, clowncopter.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Philadelphia's clear across the state, clowncopter.

What, they can't bowl there?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

What, they can't bowl there?

I don't really like to share my inferno with everybody.

[Huckleberry]

Originally Posted by Icy

I'm working on an OOTP fictional league with 36 teams. All them based in North America, and divided in two sub leagues (NA League North and NA League South). Each subleague is divided in 3 divisions of teams each, East, West and Central. I selected 36 big cities and placed them geographically sorted in the proper sub league and division.

As my knowledge of American history/tradition is limited, i would like to ask you guys for two things:

1) Are the cities a good selection based on city size and location? And the sub-leagues/divisions?

2) Can you please guys come with a nickname for each team based on it's city history, tradition, industry, population, etc? OOTP can generate random ones, but i would prefer those nicknames to represent something related to that city and not already used in the MLB, NBA or NFL.

Here is the league structure:


Thanks in advance.

Icy,

I recently started a project that required the same research. Based on metropolitan area sizes, I would change your structure simply because North America is much easier to divide East/West as the major division.

NALE NE Div	NALW Central
New York	Chicago
Philadelphia	Dallas
Toronto	Houston
Boston	St. Louis
Montreal	Kansas City
Washington	San Antonio
NALE South	NALW Northwest
Miami	San Francisco
Atlanta	Seattle
Tampa	Minneapolis
Baltimore	Portland
Arlington (VA)	Sacramento
Orlando	San Jose
NALE Midwest	NALW Southwest
Detroit	Los Angeles
Pittsburgh	Phoenix
Cleveland	Riverside
Cincinnati	San Diego
Columbus	Denver
Indianapolis	Las Vegas

Obviously not perfect, but there's a different idea.

[Lathum]

Philadelphia Cheesesteaks
St. Louis Arches
Denver Snowcaps
Seattle Emeralds

[Passacaglia]

Icy, I'd switch Toronto and Cleveland at this point -- Toronto is further east.

Arlington Pentagons
Atlanta Curtain-Dresses
Cincinnati Butternuts
Detroit Quadricycles
El Paso Feleenas
Memphis Presleys
Philadelphia Constitutionalists
Toronto Canadians (I dunno, it's your only Canadian team)
San Antonio Texians

[Maple Leafs]

Las Vegas Rainmakers
Charlotte Webs
Toronto Bill-Stealers

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Toronto Canadians (I dunno, it's your only Canadian team)

Dude...

Why not suggest the Boston Yankees while you're at it?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Dude...

Why not suggest the Boston Yankees while you're at it?

Actually...When the Yankees nearly moved to Boston

The Yankees' lease of the Polo Grounds was up at the end of the season and plans for their own park were still far in the future. In mid-May of 1920, Johnson approached Giants owner Charles Stoneham and urged him to throw the Yankees out on their ear. That would leave Ruppert's Yankees homeless in 1921 and Johnson could force a sale. Johnson even promised Stoneham he could handpick the new owner.

Stoneham was intrigued. With Ruth, the Yankees were starting to hurt the Giants at the gate. If he could arrange for a crony to buy the team, well, that wouldn't be a problem anymore. He readily agreed, and informed the Yankees he would not renew their lease.

But neither Johnson nor Stoneham yet knew that the Yankees would soon have a place to play -- Fenway Park.

New York's threat was made possible on May 25, when the loan to Frazee went through. If Stoneham failed to renew their lease at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees had an option in 1921. They would simply play in their ballpark in Boston, creating the Boston Yankees.

Welcome back to Beantown, Babe.

Johnson, who stayed abreast of all important developments in the small world that was the American League, shuddered at the thought. The notion was fraught with uncertainty, such as the question of what would happen to Frazee's Red Sox. But if Johnson tried to stop them, a protracted round of lawsuits was inevitable, and Frazee and Ruppert had done nothing but win in the New York courts. There, they enjoyed every advantage -- New York Supreme Court justice Robert Wagner later served as Frazee's divorce attorney -- and Johnson didn't know the legal players without a scorecard. The situation promised to create a nightmare for Johnson and his league, both legally and in the court of public opinion.

Without explanation at the time, Stoneham suddenly got cold feet. He knew that if the Yankees left New York, he would be stuck without a tenant and made to look like the bad guy, the guy who'd forced the greatest player in the game out of town. Stoneham tossed Johnson aside and agreed to renew the Yankees' lease.

In a case of "Curses, foiled again," Johnson slunk off. The Yankees stayed in New York.

And for the second time, Boston lost Babe Ruth.

Start spreading the news.

It's one of my favourite stories. And I often create a team called that, for fun. So it's not quite as crazy.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Dude...

Why not suggest the Boston Yankees while you're at it?

Hey, I didn't spell it with an 'e' so step off!

[Bubba Wheels]

A good one to do is find historic and now defunct names for teams from each city, not necessarily relating to any particular sport. Colorado Rockies is an example of the pros doing this in real life, Rockies being Colorado's original NHLteam.

[thealmighty]

Dallas SUCs (Stuck-Up Chicks).

I would say that pretty much sums it up.

[Groundhog]

Whenever I set up a fictional NY team in a sim, I always call them the NY Excelsiors.

[Noop]

Miami Vicelords
Miami Tide
Miami Manatees

[JeeberD]

El Paso Miners
El Paso Diablos
El Paso Vaqueros

[tarcone]

Orlando Mice
Orlando Shamus
Orlando Thrillseekers

[JeeberD]

El Paso Raiders Army

[Huckleberry]

Houston Humidity

[Passacaglia]

Kansas City "We're Not In Kansas Anymore"s