NBA

Sorry New Orleans, But You Can’t Have Your Name Back

Having team names that reflect a local tradition, history or culture is always fun. This practice was much more common in the past, when Minnesota had the Lakers and Brooklyn had the Dodgers (more recently, Toronto was revealed to have “Raptors”). Now, new New Orleans owner Tom Benson wants to bring the name “Jazz” back to The Big Easy. But another team already has that name: that team is Utah, and they are not interested in trading.

Here’s what Jazz owner Greg Miller said on Twitter regarding what it would take for his team to give the Jazz moniker over to New Orleans, now called the Hornets (via CBS Sports):

Bummer. Because frankly, Utah should not be called the Jazz. If we were being honest, Utah would be called the Mormons, or the Smiths, or something a little more team-y like the Settlers or the Mountaineers. And New Orleans shouldn’t be the Hornets either — that name belongs to Charlotte. And the Bobcats just shouldn’t exist, period.

Ironically, as Miller mentions, the Utah Jazz is the franchise that moved from N’awlins as the New Orleans Jazz, just as the Lakers moved from Minnesota, the Dodgers from Brooklyn, the Grizzlies from Vancouver, and so on. But that’s in the past, and we should look forward to a bright future, where team names are team names because we say so, damn it.

What other team names could use a makeover? The Brooklyn Nets, when they become such a team, will need to change “Nets” because otherwise it sounds like “Brooklynettes” and that’s a silly name for a men’s team. Leave your ideas for other team name changes, including what the Nets should be called starting in 2013, in the comments below.

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