In the wide world of sports, like so many of its concession stands, the name game’s grown a big stale, and the seasoned tastebuds here at Man Mulligan crave fresh and authentic flavors more than ever before, so instead of sticking with the status quo, which means swallowing bite after bite of pre-heated nicknames and waiting—no, praying—for someone to spice up the menu, we’re flipping our tables in protest and jumping in the kitchen ourselves. “Hold my beer,” as they say.
Team names matter, more than most of us care to admit, but they’re largely treated as if they were carried down to us fans from the mountaintop as perfectly formed—and untouchable—reflections of the team and its players, let alone the home city and its people. That’s hardly the case, as we know. While there’s a select few that certainly seem that way, there are far more that leave us scratching our heads and asking why.
Some nicknames that were pitch-perfect in the 1880s, or 1920s, or 1950s, or 1990s—you know who you are—now miss the mark entirely. We’re talking the territory of career-ending airballs, shanks, yips, what have you. Is this understandable? Sure. Everything changes eventually, including our sports. But is this acceptable—stomaching these past-due nicknames ad infinitum? We at Man Mulligan think not. Team names, like the teams they’re connected to, are living, breathing creations, constantly evolving with each season, each logo tweak, each time they roll off fans’ lips, but we often see them instead treated, more often than not, like yesteryear’s leftovers thrown in the microwave for a quick zap and passed off as meals of the day.
We’re out to change that perception—and spice it all up in the process. While many of the team nicknames in American sports are culturally, if not capitalistically, sacred and—let’s be honest here—will never change due to their statuses as cornerstones of both priceless fandoms and ten-figure enterprises, the enterprising crew at Man Mulligan believes there’s more to discover within each fanbase than what’s currently adorning our teams. The people’s nickname, if you will. We’re not out to erase the identities of your city’s storied franchises (though, as you’ll see, there are plenty we’d like to replace); we want to add to them instead.
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