04/18/24
February 25, 2005
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks are to no longer be under Disney's wing.: Sold for $50-60 million - on par with the expansion fee paid in 1992. So, if Disney is no longer paying the bills, how about changing the name and logo!
I'll get behind The Anaheim Lick Maneuvers.
posted by chicobangs at 12:28 AM on February 26, 2005
How about the Los Angeles Mighty... no, it's too easy. I can't do it.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:35 AM on February 26, 2005
Screaming Weasels! or how about - The Tempest. Or something else vague and lame- like the Anaheim Aggressive. Hey, it's all a step up from Mighty Ducks.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:39 AM on February 26, 2005
There's a real cool club, on the other side of town where the real cool kids go to sit around and talk bad about the other kids yea it's a real cool club and you're not part of it
posted by yerfatma at 10:19 AM on February 26, 2005
New American pro sports franchises are too hung up on aggressive names. I like the name Mighty Ducks because it bucks that trend, and when the team is good, getting your ass kicked by a Duck has to be a humbling experience. Now that the club is getting away from Disney, I think it would be a mistake to dump the name in favor of something that would be instantly forgettable (Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Thrashers, etc).
posted by rcade at 11:00 AM on February 26, 2005
Yes rcade, something that sucks worse than Atlanta Thrashers is bucking the trend. I don't have a problem with Ducks - but Mighty Ducks? Isn't that just an attempt to make aggressive that which is not? Also, I think the issue is integrity when your franchise is named after another franchise - a fucking piss-poor Disney kids film franchise. But what do I know, I like the Toronto Raptors - another disgusting short-sighted trend name.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:36 PM on February 26, 2005
Hockey is an aggressive sport so what's wrong with an agressive name? The laughable logo and team name should be put to rest.
posted by game-winner31 at 12:40 PM on February 26, 2005
Allright, I've been lurking here in the background for a while, but this one hits too close to home. I'm a real live Mighty Ducks fan (and I'm over 8 years old, and I show up whether they win or lose) and just have to weigh in. I'm glad Disney is selling the team; clearly their hearts weren't in it once they couldn't use it to market the movies. I like the name. I hated it at first, but it grew on me. The only thing that annoys me is that it's the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim instead of Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Leave it alone. Leave the logo alone. It's just fine the way it is. It's distinctive, it's colorful, and if selling merchandise helps keep the club financially solvent, that's fine by me.
posted by stevef at 01:14 PM on February 26, 2005
maybe disney should have kept the team and just changed the name. how about the anaheim/pixar incredibles or the average pocahontas.
posted by chefwest at 01:41 PM on February 26, 2005
Disney's in the money-making business. Hockey's sooooo far down the sports-popularity list in this country and it's dropping faster by the minute. I live in western New York where the temperature is currently 18 degrees and I could care less about hockey right now. I can't imagine many folks in Anaheim sitting in dark rooms bawling their eyes out because the (formerly) Mighty Ducks (what an embarrassing name) aren't in action this year. With the NCAA hoops tournament getting ready to start, baseball spring training, golfers tuning up for Augusta, hockey can STAY gone. Let the pros stay over in Europe, since that's where most NHL stars call home nowadays anyway.
posted by dyams at 08:32 PM on February 26, 2005
Just because you don't care about hockey doesn't mean the rest of North America shares your opinion. As someone who didn't discover the sport until living in Colorado in the mid-'90s, I miss the NHL, and I'm really going to miss the playoffs. As for the notion that the sport only works in cold-weather locales, Dallas loved the Stars so much they built one of the most incredible venues in sports, the American Airlines Center, to house the team and the Mavericks. If this idiotic labor dispute ever ends, I challenge anyone to attend a Stars game in Dallas and tell me the sport's "dropping faster by the minute."
posted by rcade at 09:24 AM on February 27, 2005
Most of what I said was anger over the current situation. I think it's beyond ridiculous this dispute could not be solved, and see hockey as a sport that could least afford to go without an entire season being played. I actually do follow hockey (the Buffalo Sabres), but don't call myself a "rabid" fan. And that's where hockey's popularity in the U.S. stands, with a number of serious hockey fans. Where it misses the boat is that it continues to turn away the borderline fans just getting to the point of deciding whether to care about the NHL or not. Many hockey cities seem to capitalize on the specific team's popularity when things are going really well (everyone loves a winner). Hockey was huge in Tampa, Floriday last year during the Lightning's run. But when things are in a state of flux, or the teams are not doing well, how do fans, or potential fans, react? The Buffalo Sabres get good crowns at HSBC Arena for games, but take a walk down the busiest street in the city any day of the week and ask person after person to name five players on the team, they can't do it. And my shot about European hockey players only points at the fact that even if people could recall certain players, they probably couldn't pronounce their names. I truly believe hockey in North America would be more popular if there were limits to the amount of foreign players rosters could have (it seems to work with baseball in Japan). This would also help increase the interest in college and minor league hockey in the country. My point of this rambling paragraph is that the serious hockey fans will miss hockey, while the larger majority of SPORTS fans will just follow something else. Hockey's in serious trouble.
posted by dyams at 10:06 AM on February 27, 2005
rcade, i agree like heck. anyone open to see a stars game? p.s. modano rules, and the mighty ducks have NEVER had a good team.
posted by Jimbob1077 at 08:23 PM on February 27, 2005
I truly believe hockey in North America would be more popular if there were limits to the amount of foreign players rosters could have (it seems to work with baseball in Japan). This would also help increase the interest in college and minor league hockey in the country. No way. I couldn't disagree more. Hockey needs the Europeans. Absolutely needs them and the most talented players available - regardless of where they're from. Just like the NBA. While suffering from a few ails, I think the primary reason for the slow collapse of hockey from the casual fan's dance card is because the hockey played right now is boring, slow and tactical. Too much like soccer, and not nearly as fast and exciting as the hockey played just 7 or 8 years ago. That and the goalies are too goddamn good.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:29 PM on February 27, 2005
im against the lockout because its ridiculous. im with the players. the better you are, the more you get payed. thats from a real players standpoint.
posted by Jimbob1077 at 08:33 PM on February 27, 2005
That and the goalies are too goddamn good. or maybe it's just that their pads are too goddamn big.
posted by goddam at 08:42 PM on February 27, 2005
Everytime someone points out how silly the name "Mighty Ducks" sounds to them, I point out that one of the most storied franchises in hockey history is named after a part of a plant. And this comes from a Toronto fan...
posted by grum@work at 09:30 PM on February 27, 2005
Leafs is awkward but at least it isn't a corporate synergistic tie in. I think team names should have something to do with the team location (yes, examples abound where this is not that case) rather than their corporate parent. If Disney is not in the picture then what do Mighty Ducks have to do with Anaheim?
posted by gspm at 07:06 AM on February 28, 2005
Most of what I said was anger over the current situation. I think it's beyond ridiculous this dispute could not be solved, and see hockey as a sport that could least afford to go without an entire season being played. I actually do follow hockey (the Buffalo Sabres), but don't call myself a "rabid" fan. Should have recognized that you were a frustrated hockey fan too. I just see so many non-fans using the lockout as an excuse to dismiss the sport that I cheap-shotted you into the boards. Sorry.
posted by rcade at 07:30 AM on February 28, 2005
Not a problem at all, rcade. Keep the comments comin'! It's just been tough on the Buffalo area altogether. The city is in a HUGE financial mess, HSBC Arena is closed, for the most part (except for some college basketball getting thrown in here and there), and to make things worse, the station that carried the Sabres locally (Empire) closed up for good. There's always roadblocks being thrown up left and right, and it makes it hard for casual fans of the game, who go into a new season wanting to commit to following the game closer than in the past, to do that. And, just to wrap up, we in Buffalo still choose to ignore the Stars (old wounds heal slowly).
posted by dyams at 08:36 AM on February 28, 2005
Leafs is awkward but at least it isn't a corporate synergistic tie in. I'd rather have a corporate synergistic tie-in than a market-researched group-think name. When the Toronto basketball franchise was looking for a name, Raptors beat out Bobcats and Dragons in the final vote. Lo and behold, when the Charlotte franchise had to decide on a name, Bobcats and Dragons were amongst the finalists. Again. So, advance warning to the next NBA franchise that needs a name: you are going to be called "Dragons", whether you like it or not....
posted by grum@work at 11:08 AM on March 02, 2005
And then Barcelona sues.
posted by yerfatma at 01:35 PM on March 02, 2005
Speaking of weird team names, the first time I heard the name Nippon Ham Fighters, I thought: why are Japanese people fighting against ham? Apparently its named after a company named Nippon Ham...is that too far off for this thread?
posted by chris2sy at 01:48 PM on March 02, 2005
And then Barcelona sues. Nah. If you can have Winnipeg/New York Jets Florida/Carolina Panthers Los Angeles/Sacramento Kings St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals B.C./Detroit Lions (same sport!) New York/Texas Rangers San Francisco/New York Giants then I don't think a team on another continent is going to have much of a case...
posted by grum@work at 06:48 PM on March 02, 2005
Sasketchewan Roughriders/Ottawa Rough Riders (once upon a time, same league!)
posted by gspm at 08:48 PM on March 02, 2005
Saskatchewan Roughriders/Ottawa Rough Riders/ Frisco Roughriders (texas minor baseball league)
posted by Jimbob1077 at 06:39 PM on March 04, 2005
I'm rooting for the Anaheim Emilios Estevez. And according to IMDB, the Mighty Ducks FOUR is in production for a 2005 release.