Team Fill-in the blank

[Amy West]

I wonder if bicycle racing might be another possible source: that was
the field that popped into my mind when this structure was pointed
out.

The prepositioning of the Team part is very intriguing: I hadn't
noticed it until now.

---Amy West

>One possible source is Formula One/Grand Prix auto racing, where
>high-profile team names have included Team Ferrari, Team Lotus, and
>Team McLaren. In the case of Team Ferrari, I suppose the "Noun +
>Modifier" ordering could be based on Italian via loan-translation
>(Wikipedia says Team Ferrari is "liberally translated" from the
>Italian name Scuderia Ferrari, lit. "Ferrari Stable"). But Team Lotus
>and Team McLaren were based in the U.K., so I don't know what the
>explanation would be there.
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer

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