New Orleans Gives Up Hornets Name and Will Become the Pelicans Next Season

Sure, yuk it up. The New Orleans Hornets, who kept the name when the franchise moved from Charlotte, is now giving up the Hornets name to become the Pelicans next season according to Yahoo! Sports. Apparently Louisiana is the Pelican State. I don't know if there is a hornet problem in the Big Easy or not, but I guess Pelicans fits better. Some people in Charlotte apparently wanted the Hornets back, which makes sense I guess.

Former Charlotte owner Bob Johnson had the public help pick the team name of Bobcats, and despite there being a large bobcat population in the Carolinas, seemed shady to a lot of people because it appeared he was naming the team after himself. Johnson doesn't own the team anymore, so Charlotte might be going back to the Hornets. Got all that? But the problem of teams being named something that doesn't fit anymore isn't new and you can't just go around changing all the team names, but what if they did?

Easily the most nonsensical team name is the Utah Jazz. The team was based in New Orleans and aptly named, then moved to Salt Lake City where there might not be a thriving jazz scene. I haven't spent enough time there to find out, but I think it's a safe bet. The Utah anything else would be better. How about Iguanas? Lizards are completely under utilized in the sports team nickname world.

Los Angeles Lakers doesn't make a lot of sense. It did when the team was created in Minneapolis in the state of ten thousand lakes, but now? But they're never going to change. The Clippers was a good name when they were in San Diego, and you can make a case for it in L.A. I suppose, but not nearly like you could in San Diego.

Probably the most hilarious one to me is the Toronto Raptors. The team was named about a year after Jurassic Park came out and was heavily influenced by the movie, despite there being no ties to the team and the movie studio. Well done.

The main thing for the NBA is this means lots of new jerseys and branded stuff to sell in New Orleans and probably Charlotte, so it's a win.