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Your Idea Of What Would Be The Ideal Nickname For Our City's New MLS Franchise

Metropolitantexan

By Metropolitantexan
in Sports and Stadia

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skwatra

skwatra

Posted
Posted

lonestars? really?

i really don't get you guys sometimes.

there's a certain image you want to shed, naming the team lonestars is not going to help any. the astros, rangers, stars, and cowboys already have stars, i think we have that covered around here.

the Texans is a bad enough name, i really hope we don't add lonestars to that list.

honestly, i didn't even think of buffalo bayou when i saw buffalos. first i thought of the bills, then the animal.

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DJ V Lawrence

DJ V Lawrence

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lonestars? really?

i really don't get you guys sometimes.

there's a certain image you want to shed, naming the team lonestars is not going to help any. the astros, rangers, stars, and cowboys already have stars, i think we have that covered around here.

the Texans is a bad enough name, i really hope we don't add lonestars to that list.

honestly, i didn't even think of buffalo bayou when i saw buffalos. first i thought of the bills, then the animal.

Not saying LoneStars is the best name in the world, but to me it was the best one to come off the MLS list to vote on. LoneStars also sounds generic, and like something you can change to any image you want.

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dalparadise

dalparadise

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:mellow: being sarcastic, or you really don't care about Houston? Not trying to sound rude; just don't know your stance...

My stance is probably the same as most of the posters' will be about three months into the MLS season. That is, people don't care about this league. To true fans of the sport, the league is a joke. MLS is geared toward the suburban soccer mom and kids market. Do you really believe our large population of illegal immigrants (the heart of our true soccer fan base) is going to turn out in significant numbers to keep a team afloat? And do you envision a suburban mom loading the kids up in an SUV to take them down to the Third Ward (Robertson Stadium) for a night soccer game? The rapists and robbers along Scott Street must be already salivating over that one. And assuming they do get a more appropriate stadium built for 2008, or so, will it be domed? The MLS season mirrors MLB -- that's summertime, sports fans. Can you imagine sitting through hours of sub-par football in 100+ heat and humidity? Ask the Texans how that has gone over.

MLS is probably viewed as some kind of urban validation on this forum -- kind of like if we got a new faconnable boutique, or something like that. Posters here would crow about what a coup it is for the city and how it would finally show we are "world class". Then, they'd never set foot in the store, nor buy a single item.

Besides, we already have a competing brand in town that trumps anything in Dallas or the rest of Texas -- it's the Astros. Imagine what it will be like at the hot soccer stadium in June when Clemens comes back to push the Astros into the playoffs.

It'll sound something like this...

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DJ V Lawrence

DJ V Lawrence

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My stance is probably the same as most of the posters' will be about three months into the MLS season. That is, people don't care about this league. To true fans of the sport, the league is a joke. MLS is geared toward the suburban soccer mom and kids market. Do you really believe our large population of illegal immigrants (the heart of our true soccer fan base) is going to turn out in significant numbers to keep a team afloat? And do you envision a suburban mom loading the kids up in an SUV to take them down to the Third Ward (Robertson Stadium) for a night soccer game? The rapists and robbers along Scott Street must be already salivating over that one. And assuming they do get a more appropriate stadium built for 2008, or so, will it be domed? The MLS season mirrors MLB -- that's summertime, sports fans. Can you imagine sitting through hours of sub-par football in 100+ heat and humidity? Ask the Texans how that has gone over.

MLS is probably viewed as some kind of urban validation on this forum -- kind of like if we got a new faconnable boutique, or something like that. Posters here would crow about what a coup it is for the city and how it would finally show we are "world class". Then, they'd never set foot in the store, nor buy a single item.

Besides, we already have a competing brand in town that trumps anything in Dallas or the rest of Texas -- it's the Astros. Imagine what it will be like at the hot soccer stadium in June when Clemens comes back to push the Astros into the playoffs.

It'll sound something like this...

The key is marketing as to if MLS in Houston, or MLS as a whole, will succeed or not. Soccer itself is VERY marketable, seeing that it's by far the biggest sport in the world, and the World Cup is the giant compared to the Super Bowl, Nascar, "World Series", or any other sporting event on earth. If the US soccer team does even better at this World Cup than last time, I think soccer will explode in America.

As far as I'm concerned, this team will only be as big in Houston as the owner or owners of the former Earthquakes allows it to be. And if that owner keeps a diverse universal target audience, has a comfortable stadium at a central location, and is serious about keeping his team competitive, (and have a name we all are proud of), then I think Houstonians will embrace it, and the team wold become the backbone of MLS, and eventually help MLS become as covered a league in the media as NHL or even higher. But it all depends on if the leadership of the team sees the team as minor-league or as a market with potential.

Lets see in the coming months how seriously the team owners take this team...

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dalparadise

dalparadise

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The key is marketing as to if MLS in Houston, or MLS as a whole, will succeed or not. Soccer itself is VERY marketable, seeing that it's by far the biggest sport in the world, and the World Cup is the giant compared to the Super Bowl, Nascar, "World Series", or any other sporting event on earth. If the US soccer team does even better at this World Cup than last time, I think soccer will explode in America.

As far as I'm concerned, this team will only be as big in Houston as the owner or owners of the former Earthquakes allows it to be. And if that owner keeps a diverse universal target audience, has a comfortable stadium at a central location, and is serious about keeping his team competitive, (and have a name we all are proud of), then I think Houstonians will embrace it, and the team wold become the backbone of MLS, and eventually help MLS become as covered a league in the media as NHL or even higher. But it all depends on if the leadership of the team sees the team as minor-league or as a market with potential.

Lets see in the coming months how seriously the team owners take this team...

Yeah, I've been hearing about how soccer is the biggest thing in the world since the NASL days. Unfortunately, the US doesn't care about the rest of the world -- particularly in regard to sports. Any time the growth of US soccer is mentioned, it's always in the context of immigrants creating a niche audience here.

As for "soccer exploding here," I have a hard time believing more than 5%-6% of the TV audience here would really be interested in something that could air at 2am and involve Euros running up and down a field at random at a dismal, plodding pace. No amount of marketing can overcome how boring soccer is to a US audience.

What this is is another opportunity for a private business (one doomed to ultimate failure, at that) to extort taxpayers' money for a stadium. Ours will be particularly offensive because, as I said earlier, it's hot here in summertime. If they want anyone to come to the games, they'll need to dome the stadium...and change the game to something Americans actually want to pay to watch.

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Subdude

Subdude

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I think, "Houston Generals" is something different.

Sam Houston was a general.

Somehow, when I hear "Houston Generals" I think, "as opposed to specifics." It reminds me of General Admission, the guy who used to shoot off a cannon when someone hit a homer in the Astrodome.

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DJ V Lawrence

DJ V Lawrence

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Pretty funny.

Here is the official naming contest link.

Name the Team!

I got one. Hard Rock Houston. And have the stadium and team sponsored by Hard Rock Cafe. Maybe it'd be good commercial and publicity for both Houston and HRC, and everyone I know alwayz looks for the Hard Rock restaurant when they go to another city. Could it work?

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Subdude

Subdude

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Boy, I don't know. My first reaction was "Who wants teams named after businesses?", but then again it is probably just a matter of time. The problem is that you are far more likely to end up with the "Houston Gallery Furniture" or the "Houston Cafe Express".

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DJ V Lawrence

DJ V Lawrence

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Boy, I don't know. My first reaction was "Who wants teams named after businesses?", but then again it is probably just a matter of time. The problem is that you are far more likely to end up with the "Houston Gallery Furniture" or the "Houston Cafe Express".

Respectable point. GalleryFurniture.com wasn't exactly the classiest bowl name in the world, either. But if you'd have a business name as your logo, wouldn't you want it to be a name like Hard Rock? Has a ring to it to me. To me, Hard Rock Houston sounds way better and even more professional than the Houston Apollos or just about any of the other names on the MLS.com list. And besides, when you see soccer teams on tv, they all have corporate logos on their jerseys. Even the two most famous sports teams in all world, Manchester United and Barcelona, have Vodafone and Siemens across their chests. Might as well choose a name or corporate sponsor that actually sounds cool, and the world would easily recognize.

I'd just love traveling to a Hard Rock Cafe in a different city and seeing Houston's team anywhere in the world.

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Subdude

Subdude

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You're right that Hard Rock Houston doesn't sound bad, and it certainly is better and more professional than "Houston Apollos". It's just the ol' slippery slope problem. In the long term it will be hard to specify sponsors, since the boys with the money will always have the best shot at sponsoring team names. Thus, you end up with the Houston Gallery Furniture, perhaps when Hard Rock figures they've had enough of it and sells the naming rights.

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RedScare

RedScare

Posted
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Date of Houston's founding.

It also happens to be the year Texas became a republic.

This thread has a pic of the logo.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=295277

Actually, it looks pretty cool. And THANK YOU MLS for not doing a Red White & Blue color scheme! Took a little guts to go outside the official American Sports Team colors, but they did. I glad that didn't do any childish animal or space names either.

All in all, I can live with this.

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DJ V Lawrence

DJ V Lawrence

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Date of Houston's founding.

It also happens to be the year Texas became a republic.

This thread has a pic of the logo.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=295277

Actually, it looks pretty cool. And THANK YOU MLS for not doing a Red White & Blue color scheme! Took a little guts to go outside the official American Sports Team colors, but they did. I glad that didn't do any childish animal or space names either.

All in all, I can live with this.

I hated the name, until I saw the logo. Not bad. Reminds me of the old Astros logo, but not as old fashioned. I was MAD nervous after I saw the fake logo on that earlier post :lol:

I also think it's the best looking logo in MLS! B) Yeah, I'm surprised that I'm saying that too :lol:

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Original Timmy Chan's

Original Timmy Chan's

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Am I the only person that actually voted for Houston 1836 on the MLS.com poll?

That was my favorite name from the get-go.

And to those who don't understand the signficance of 1836, WERE YOU ASLEEP IN 7TH GRADE TEXAS HISTORY CLASS?!? ;)

Lessee...what happened in 1836 (off the top of my head): Goliad, Alamo, Sam Houston retreating through East Texas to the San Jacinto River, Santa Anna following closely behind, Santa Anna's army burned Harrisburg to the ground as I remember it, followed shortly thereafter by the 18-minute battle at San Jacinto that won Texas its independence, establishing the Republic of Texas. Oh yeah, a couple of land speculators also bought some land at the confluence of White Oak and Buffalo Bayous and platted the City of Houston.

I like the name, but I'm not so big on the logo. Maybe it'll grow on me, or maybe we'll see some different takes on that logo as apparel and uniforms come out.

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skwatra

skwatra

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Am I the only person that actually voted for Houston 1836 on the MLS.com poll?

That was my favorite name from the get-go.

And to those who don't understand the signficance of 1836, WERE YOU ASLEEP IN 7TH GRADE TEXAS HISTORY CLASS?!? ;)

i didn't live here is 7th grade, and we didn't learn much TX history in maryland, sorry. but i did know Houston was founded that year.

and i didn't realize the voting was closing so soon so i never made it on there. what were some of the other choices out of curiousity?

Does anyone know what the mascot will be?

What kind of mascots do the 49'ers and 76'ers have?

49ers is that is a 49er named Sammy (bearded guy with overalls and big hat) and 76ers is hip-hop the rabbit. my girlfriend really likes mascots, don't ask.

mr. met and clutch are her favorites.

anyways, i hope they come up with something better then those two.

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Original Timmy Chan's

Original Timmy Chan's

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i didn't live here is 7th grade, and we didn't learn much TX history in maryland, sorry. but i did know Houston was founded that year.

That's what's wrong with the rest of America...no Texas History classes. If the rest of the country would institute Texas History class in their curriculum, we wouldn't be so misunderstood. Then again, the whole state would experience such a population influx of people who would want to be associated with our great state that we'd have Manhattan-type population densities from El Paso to Orange. And I'm not just bragging...it's true. :D

what were some of the other choices out of curiousity?

Let's see...in the MLS.com poll,. you had your choice of:

Americans

Apollos

Buffalos

Bulls

Eagles

Gators

Generals

Houston 1836

Lonestars

Mustangs

Stallions

Stars

Toros

Out of that list, I could have lived with 1836 (my 1st choice) or Generals. Buffalos might have been OK, but I think we've got enough "animal names" in pro sports. Houston Eagles? Yay! Very original! <_<

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