the abbotsford heat ???

this will be a tremendously short entry but it was announced todaythat the new-look, new-locale baby flames will be either the abbotsford heat, the abbotsford ice hawks, the abbotsford storm, or the abbotsford flames. i didn't get off my butt fast enough to throw my team names into the mix; the abbotsford axemen (my buddy mike's idea), or my choice ---the abbotsford sockeyes.... ;)

let's evaluate:

1. THE FLAMES
there are so many reasons this makes sense. obviously, they are the flames' farm team (which is why they were dubbed the quad city flames, the saint john flames, and the moncton golden flames back in the day), and the logo would be an easy fix if they could get the rights to the old atlanta jerseys... unfortunately, marketing an AHL affiliate of the local NHL team's biggest rival might be a hard sell....


2. THE HEAT
about a decade ago, one of my favorite trivia questions was "name five north american professional sports teams that don't end in 'S.'" the trick was specifying "north american" and "professional" in order to deem guesses like "AC milan" and "crimson tide" incorrect... the right answers were the tampa bay lightning, the colorado avalanche, the white and red sox, the utah jazz, the orlando magic, and the miami heat..... i wasn't a fan of these names then and i'm not a fan now, but i suppose if you want to get away from naming a team "the flames" then "the heat" is probably second best....

3. THE STORM
see #2 for reasons why "the abbotsford storm" doesn't work for me, and add in the fact that it sounds like a character on american gladiators.... or a WNBA squad.

4. THE ICE HAWKS
ugh. is this my last option, for real ???? i don't know what the hell an ice hawk is, or if it's a real thing.... if they wanted to name the team after a bird, then why not the RAVENS or something suitably west-coasty ?? hawks are so.... overdone in pro sports....

here's to hoping the flames' brass can convince that the best name going is the one they've already got.... [though as i continue reading, it seems they've come straight out and said the team will NOT be called "the flames." unless they're taking media lessons from darryl sutter, i can only presume this to be true...]

*yawn*