Tampa is not ice cream. With an overwhelming show of apathy, there were only a few responses to the lame old “what flavor” question. Best on the short list was tim’s answer of “highly segregated Neapolitan.” Sandy gets an honorable mention with “Plain ol’ Vanilla.”
Tonight begins the NFL season. In honor of this great sporting event, I encourage you to imagine that the Tampa Bay area somehow acquired a professional basketball team. What should the team be named?
Brett
4 years ago
Just off the top of my noggin.
The Low Turnouts.
The Seven Dollar Colas.
The Overpaid, Spoiled Brats.
As it turns out, I’m not a big basketball fan.
spiralsands
4 years ago
The Tampa Bay Tall&RichGuys.
Or how ’bout The Tampa Bay Fantasy…Sort of like the Magic but without the Disney and yet still devoid of reality. The possiblilities for mascot characters would be infinite.
tim
4 years ago
Tampa has, in my opinion, the three most relevant and fitting names for its sports teams of any city in the country. We are the Lightning capital of the world, with nasty Rays populating our beach areas which were once plundered by a Buccaneer. (The Tampa Bay Storm is also a decent name.)
To keep up with that trend, I would recommend one of the following:
Tampa Bay Rollers (for our cigar heritage)
Tampa Bay Cannons (from the old fort)
Tampa Bay Tarpons (I like this one particularly well)
Tampa Bay Fighters/Airmen/something to do with the fact we are supposedly the most supportive USAF city in the country
tiny
4 years ago
Tampa Bay Jazz, could be sooner than you think.
St. Pete Times Tampans, consistency just might end the confusion.
The Selmon Expressways, never happen.
Tampa Bay Palmers, because puns always win silly blog contests.
t
http://www.tinylittledots.com
TamBay
4 years ago
I like the Tampa Bay Thunder. Then you would have the Storm, the Lightning, and the Thunder in the same building.
CT
4 years ago
Back in the late ’80s, when the area was making a half-hearted run at an NBA franchise (that process culminated in the birth of the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic, and probably indirectly, the Lightning as a consolation prize for TB), the name Tampa Bay ThunderBolts was tossed around.
Ugh.
Let’s just accelerate what will one day be standard practice: The NBA’s Tampa Bay Wal-Marters (of West-Central Florida and Surrounding Demographics). I can hear the arena chants now…
John
4 years ago
You know, Tommy, this is sort of a relevant discussion with the BASEBALL team here in the Bay area too… The St. Pete Times reported that rechristening the team is an option that Stu Sternberg (the Faux Savior) was looking into.
I’m one who wants a franchise named the Thunder. I mean, come on! We got a Storm brewing, and where there is Lightning — soon after comes Thunder.
I wouldn’t be against ressurecting the name “Mutiny” either…. Though lets save that for TB’s re-entry into MLS if that ever happens.
WIth basketball being such an urban game, the name should also reflect that… I thought of Ybor first and foremost when I thought of a basketball team for one reason or another… Probably because of the Spanish heritage and the cigars…. I think I’d go with something inspired by that (the Guavas doesn’t work, and I think the league would be againt calling the team the Blunts).
Conquistidors is too long but it’s another name I’ve liked for the region.
Rick
4 years ago
Bring back the Rowdies!!
CT
4 years ago
Yes, a rechristening of the Devil Rays is a must, for obvious reasons: Aside from the losing tradition, the current moniker just rubs too many people the wrong way.
So, I propose: The Satan Rays. No more pussyfooting around, make that alliance with the dark forces explicit! (Hey, a deal with Lucifer is about what it’ll take to get that squad into the winning column…)
As for the hoops team, I can’t go with Thunder, precisely because the existing teams’ names argue against it. Imagine this scene from a hypothetical household in Pinellas County:
Wife: Honey, I thought you said you’d gotten tickets for Lightning!
Husband: No, I clearly said “Thunder”! Totally different word, totally different sport!
Wife: Why would I say I wanted to go see a basketball game, don’t you know I hate basketball?!
Husband: You never listen to me!!
Wife: YOU JERK!
Husband: YOU SHREW!!
And divorce rates all over the Bay area would skyrocket, all because the franchise names are just too similar in concept, and thus confusing. You don’t really want that to happen, do you? Huh?
John
4 years ago
….
SO like I said, I’m partial to the “Tampa Bay Thunder” but I would prefer it for the Baseball team…
Sandy
4 years ago
The Tampa Yankees.
kate
4 years ago
Okay, Tampans and Tarpons are too similar to Tampons. Rollers are potheads and Palmers…well…that’s just too obvious. I’d go with Thunder.
Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog »
4 years ago
[...] [...]
Jim
4 years ago
SunRays — You heard it here first . . . Works perfect with the SunCoast, and the Sunshine State.
Jim
4 years ago
SunRays — You heard it here first . . .
Daniel
1 year ago
Well, this is a very old post, but I found it because I was just researching locations that the NBA is considering adding new teams. While Tampa wasn’t listed (London, Las Vegas, Norfolk VA are the most likely), it *was* listed in their statistical demographic data multiple times – in each case, the Tampa Bay metro area was listed as the largest non-NBA television market, largest US metro area without an NBA team, and the largest US city proper without an NBA team. I heard, through several sources (not saying they are RELIABLE sources), that NBA execs happen to be in Tampa this weekend for the Super Bowl and have been scouting out the St. Pete Times Forum (where the Magic sometimes play), and/or future use of the re-configured Tropicana Field if and when the Rays move to a new field.
When an NBA team moves to Tampa (not if, I say when) I think it should be called the Tampa Bay Hurricanes, and I agree they should play in the same building as the Storm and the Lightning. I liked the suggestion “Thunder”, but since this post, the NBA has already added a new expansion team by that name, so that’s out of the question now.
Tampa Bay Hurricanes: I can already see the marketing for this team – billboards off I-275 heading into downtown with the image of a giant swirling hurricane (or the swirling red “hurricane logo” that is used on weather maps) with the headline “Hurricane Season Is Here… Are You Ready? Get Your Hurricane Survival Kit Now – Season Tickets Available Now”… those familiar red-and-black-box warning flags that appear on our beaches for hurricane warnings would fly all around the Forum, flapping in the air conditioning as peels of thunder rumble throughout the building during play…. the uniform could even implement the warning flag colors and design into the uniform design itself, with the team and player names written in a eye-catching windswept font…
I don’t think the team would be as successful if it were based in St Pete at Tropicana, only because the Rays suffer attendance because of those bridge commutes. Speaking of them, I think the Rays should relocate to a nice field in Clearwater or Oldsmar in my opinion – halfway between Tampa and St Pete. The commute wouldn’t necessarily have to be long and over water for fans to get to the games.