The new Washington DC baseball team

[Page Stephens]

Does anyone out there remember that during the anti communist hysteria of
the 1950s the people who owned The Cincinnati Reds attempted to change the
name of the team from Reds to Red Legs?

The St. Louis Cardinals who were also named for the color of their uniforms
managed to keep their name as did The Boston Red Sox and Red Legs was soon
relegated to the trash pile of history.

Can you imagine anyone in their right mind referring to "The Big Red
Machine" of the 1970s as "The Big Red Leg Machine"?

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joanne M. Despres" <jdespres at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: The new Washington DC baseball team


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joanne M. Despres" <jdespres at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM>
> Subject:      Re: The new Washington DC baseball team
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Nice suggestion, Larry!  ESPN obviously needs a serious infusion of
> imagination
> in its team-naming efforts.  Now up here, in Northampton, the women's
> softball
> teams have truly interesting names.  My particular favorite, "The Red
> Scare,"
> would work extremely well, I think, for a Washington D.C. baseball team,
> since
> it carries a political theme evocative of the city's mentality and would
> alliterate beautifully with the name of the corresponding football squad.
>
> Joanne
>
> P.S. The Redskins ARE still in Washington, aren't they?
>
> On 13 Oct 2004, at 10:40, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>> If worst comes to worst, given the
>> current state of the federal government they could retain and
>> slightly modify the current nickname:  The Washington Indecent Expos.
>> Remember, you read it here first.