The New Orleans Pelicans

Today, the New Orleans NBA franchise announced they are ditching the Hornets nickname that they brought with them from Charlotte, NC and are becoming the New Orleans Pelicans, starting in the 2013-2014 season. It's only the third time an NBA team has changed its nickname without relocation so it's not like this sort of stuff happens every day. The other two times a team changed only their nickname occurred in Chicago in 1962 when the Chicago Packers became the Chicago Zephyrs and in Washington in 1997 when the Washington Bullets became the Washington Wizards. The Zephyrs name lasted one year before the team relocated to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Bullets so the Zephyrs and Wizards are in fact the same team, just way removed from one another.

I know not everyone will be a fan of the new Pelicans moniker but I love it. The brown pelican is the state bird of Louisiana and the new name is therefore a great location-specific name for New Orleans. It should come as no surprise that I have strong opinions about team nicknames as I do about most everything related to the NBA. To put it quite frankly, I believe all teams should have location-specific nicknames and should change their nicknames if they relocate and the original impetus behind the name selection no longer applies.

I love the fact that a team name can reinforce the identity of a team as being from a definite place in the United States. I also find nicknames which are not tied to teams' cities to be generally unimaginative and boring. For me, the name doesn't have to work ONLY in that city but it should work in that city and maybe a handful of other cities. The Spurs nickname, for example, works well in San Antonio and would work equally well in any town associated with cowboys in the west, but it won't work in somewhere like Cleveland or Orlando. And yes, I am calling the Wizards nickname "generally unimaginative and boring," although it's no worse than the Bullets.

Admittedly, the Pelicans nickname is not the most impressive city-inspired nickname in the NBA. It doesn't compare to the Portland Trail Blazers, New York Knicks or Denver Nuggets but it's making the required effort. Hopefully, the renaming opens the door to allow the Hornets nickname to return to Charlotte. The Hornets name was selected based on a quote from Lord Cornwallis during the Revolutionary War in which he described the city of Charlotte as a "veritable nest of hornets" due to their fierce resistance against the British. The current Charlotte Bobcats name is absolutely awful and seems to be born strictly out of vanity of the original Bobcats' original owner, Bob Johnson. Now that Johnson has bailed on that team, the team should bail on his name. I think it would be great if the Bobcats became the Hornets.

By the way, as bad as the Bobcats name is, I'm not sure it's as bad as the Raptors nickname in Toronto. What were they thinking naming their franchise after the number one grossing movie of the year? Unconscionable!

So now that the Pelicans have made this move, it would be wonderful if other NBA franchises took a cue from them and also renamed their teams. There are some franchise names that work despite relocation. The Pistons name from Fort Wayne works just as well, if not better, in Detroit and the Houston franchise couldn't have asked for a better name when the San Diego Rockets moved to town, considering Houston's association with NASA. But others just don't. The former New Orleans franchise, now in Utah, is the poster child for great nicknames moving to inappropriate places. How much Jazz is there in Utah? The Utah franchise should have given this name up decades ago. If they had, we'd have the Jazz back in New Orleans instead of the Pelicans. Now that would be a win-win for everyone.

There are three other franchises which probably need to change their names, although the Lakers should have made that decision in 1959 when they left the land of 10,000 lakes (Minnesota) and relocated to southern California. There's probably just too much history there to overturn that non-decision. And if the Utah Jazz won't rename themselves (and what's the point now?), I think the Memphis Grizzlies could take a hard look at their franchise name. The Grizzlies started out in Vancouver but relocated to Memphis following the 2000-2001 season. I know there are bears in Tennessee but not really any grizzlies. It might be time for them to consider following the Pelicans. Just as long as they don't adopt the old American Basketball Association Tams name, which tried (in vain, I believe) to promote regional support for the team by taking the first letter of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi and jamming them together to make up a name. The tam-o-shanter logo made the name even worse. I might prefer the Raptors name. The Tams name lasted two seasons before they became the Sounds.

Despite my overwhelming approval of the renaming, there are two things I'll miss. I'll temporarily miss Hugo the Hornet, one of the best mascots in the NBA, until he reappears in Charlotte (please, please!). I'll also miss the fleur-de-bee logo (below), which has to be one of the best logos, if not the best logo, in NBA history. They can't move that one to Charlotte. In the meantime, let's go Pelicans (except when playing the Wizards)!