Tuesday, August 7, 2007

High School Football Team Name Translations


Gentle reader,

Coming from the UK, where "team spirit" means going to the pub after a game, I have always found the names of school football teams over here in the USA a bit odd. The reason is that in my head I like to translate the team names to see what they really mean. For example:


1) The Lake Central Native American Victims of Genocide by European Colonialists

(The Lake Central Indians)


2) The Clearwater Localized and Violently Destructive Windstorms that Kill Hundreds of People Every Year and Leave Thousands more Homeless.

(The Clearwater Tornadoes)


3) Fitzgerald High School Bluish-Red Storm System Characterized by a Low Pressure Center Sometimes Flooding Entire Cities and Leaving Thousands of People Dead or Homeless

(The Fitzgerald High School Purple Hurricanes)


4) The Verrado High School Venonous Snakes Found throughout Africa, Eurasia and the Americas

(Verrado High School Vipers)


5) Vernon Hills Large Cat Whose Population has Dropped Drastically Due to Persecution as a Dangerous Pest Animal Following the European Colonization of the Americas

(Vernon Hills Cougars)

6) Queensbury extremely warlike people from a city in southern Greece which existed from about the 10th century BC until the time of the Byzantine Empire.

(Queensbury Spartans)

It's a fun exercise. I wonder if you can think of any more amusing examples?

Time for today's quote:

"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious."
-Oscar Wilde

Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain,

Your friend,

Buford Twain

xx

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I went to Fitzgerald High School. I'm a bluish-red all-that-stuff-you-said alumnus.

I never really thought about the origin of our mascot's name. I think has to do with the purple tint that accompanies the storm associated with a hurricane. There are at least two other "Purple Hurricane" teams in Georgia, though -- so there's either something to it or we have some copycats.

My favorite nicknames are the Macon Whoopee (former name of a hockey team) and the Carolina Mudcats (minor league baseball).

Buford Twain's Profile said...

rightonpeachtree - thanks for taking the time to read and comment on some of the posts. I appreciate the feedback.

Unknown said...

No problem. I only found your blog because I have an RSS feed for a for Fitzgerald, Georgia. I'll keep checking it out (for a while, at least).

If you're interested, my blogs are:

http://rightonpeachtree.blogspot.com (not really active)

and

http://www.angryelectorate.com (active)