Top Ten Weirdest Team Names in Sports

Who Takes the Cake for the Nuttiest Namesake?

The world of sports has an appeal that transcends athletic competition and makes its way into the everyday lives of people around the globe. Every sports fan cheers for a particular club or city, but few of us stop to think about what actually goes into the name of their favorite team. Some teams bear the namesake of something relevant to their hometown, for example, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Other squads are named after a ferocious animal (Chicago Bulls), a mythological creature (San Francisco Giants), or a group of people (New York Islanders). Some team names, however, don't seem to fall into any reasonable category. These monikers escape all rhyme and reason; and without further ado I present to you the top ten weirdest team names in the world of sports.

10. The Providence College Friars

Is there a better way to pay respect to the fat white men that founded your school than to name your athletic teams after them? Located in the fine city of Providence, Rhode Island, this school pays homage to a group of people who never seem to get enough credit: upper-class, middle-aged, overweight, white males. I'll bet this namesake really goes over well with the female sports teams on campus.

9. The Georgetown Hoyas

Once again, ignorant white people found a way to embarrass themselves for generations to come. Leave it to the Catholic founders of this collegiate institution to name their team after a Latin pronoun meaning "What". "Ooh, look out! Here come the Georgetown Whats!" If you are not intimidated by the preceding statement, you are not alone.

8. The Elon Fighting Christians

This small private school in North Carolina paints a pretty accurate picture of what was expected of its students back when the college was founded. Elon recently changed its team name to the "Phoenix," but obviously no one was quite sure how to spell the plural form of the mythological bird. Phoenixs? Phoenixes? Phoeni? The spelling is hotly debated, and therefore the student body are still "Fighting Christians." (Excuse me for the terrible pun).

7. The Scottsdale Community College Artichokes