Opinions on names

Two papers in Fort Wayne have takes on the potential new name of the Wizards.

Here is the News-Sentinel take...in a column. Be prepared.

Why change-o your presto, Wizards?

They're considering a new name for the Fort Wayne Wizards when they move to Harrison Square, and I already have a few favorites:

♦Fort Wayne Questionable Investments.

♦Fort Wayne Downtown Revitalizers.

♦Fort Wayne Empty Condos.

Sorry. I had to get my sarcasm out of the way right off the bat, so to speak.

That was sarcasm? I couldn't tell.

Anyway, another history lesson:

When Fort Wayne landed the baseball franchise from Kenosha, Wis., in 1992, a contest to name the team settled on five finalists: Wizards, Kekiongas, Sandbaggers, Cavalry and Summit City Pioneers.

The only one worth revisiting is the Kekiongas, because that was the city's first known pro baseball team in 1871. In fact, the Wizards wore throw-back jerseys with “Kekiongas” across the chest occasionally in the 1990s. However, naming a team with an Indian association might be a tough sell in politically correct times. It would be done as a tribute, but designing the mascot would be impossible.

Interesting.

Here is the Journal Gazette...in a column.

History can provide new team name

Three names that probably won’t make the cut as the Fort Wayne Wizards look for a new handle to go with their new Harrison Square digs:

• The Failures (As in, “Harrison Square will be a failure”).

• The Doom (As in, “Harrison Square is doomed”).

• The Nattering Nabobs of Negativism (An oldie but goody, hauled out of Spiro Agnew’s closet to honor the constituency that thinks Harrison Square is a doomed failure).

• Is there a limit
• of three
  
• bullet points to each column?

None of those is my pick, though. My pick is this: The Runaways.

It is, of course, a tip of the cap to Josiah Harmar, who ran away during the Battle of Kekionga in October 1790. And before you scoff, let me point out why this is not the worst nickname ever:

• The worst nickname ever was the Peoria Prancers, a one-time IHL franchise whose mascot, if I recall correctly, was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or some reasonable facsimile.

• “Runaways” is historical.

• It would create puzzlement and confusion among opponents.

• Did I mention it was historical?

• I guess
• that the bullet points
• are limited by
  
• the amount of sarcasm
• that each writer
• needs to
  
• get out of his/her system
• I guess