12/21/24
April 08, 2016
When the Nets could have become the Swamp Dragons: In the 1990s, the New Jersey Nets asked the NBA owners for permission to change their team name to the New Jersey Swamp Dragons. The vote came back 26-1 in favor, but the 1 came from... the New Jersey Nets.
posted by Etrigan to basketball at 11:16 AM - 2 comments
If they had gone with Swamp Draggers, there might have been some sort of response from the Hoffa family.
That Nets marketing group could have used a little input from land brokers and local officials in the parishes south and west of New Orleans. Their approach to terminology is a bit like that of the green jacketed lords of Augusta National.
You don't buy and sell tracts of "swampland" in Louisiana. It's "marsh property".
posted by beaverboard at 01:02 PM on April 08, 2016
Great story, but in the end they did the right thing. I like the Nets name 'cause it rolled off the tongue so well, like a sweet Dr J fingertip roll shot: the New Jersey Nets.