The Pelicans are a solid name with history in New Orleans, and the Jazz was originally a perfectly good name for a team in New Orleans and which never should have been kept when the team moved to Utah.

I'd add the Wizards to the list of bad NBA team names.

If I'm David Wright, I'm feeling very dumb for having signed that extension. He's never going to see a winning season, much less a postseason, again.

He must absolutely love New York. I do know some people who can't imagine being anywhere else, and Wright may be like that.

Still, this couldn't have surprised him, could it? Iirc Wright said he had spoken to Dickey in the offseason and they both felt the team was moving in the right direction, but it didn't sound like anything more than ballplayer boilerplate. Wright has the means as much as anyone to have a good sense of the Wilpons' finances. They his employer so he could have easily been as familiar with them as anyone here. Surely he's not so naive as to think that there were any indications the payroll was going over $100m in the next, well, ever?

edit: hell, never mind Wright's problems. Our problem is the further that trades push the next best Mets team over the horizon, the longer we wait to have a rooting interest in a contending team.

There are like 5 worse nicknames in the NBA alone! The Heat? The Jazz? The Magic? The Pelicans?

So... why are these and not "The Lakers" dreadful? Do names with any link at all to the original area get a pass?

Names that don't end in S are pretty terrible.

And maybe I'm not being fair to the Pelicans... but that seems like a weird name to choose.

I'd add the Wizards to the list of bad NBA team names.

"The Washington Bullets have announced a name change, to distance the franchise from associations with violence and crime. The new name will be the Maryland Bullets."

There are like 5 worse nicknames in the NBA alone! The Heat? The Jazz? The Magic? The Pelicans?

Find me the lakes in the greater Los Angeles area.
EDIT: Coke to #103. And I had no idea the Pelicans were even (going to be) a thing. I sincerely hope their logo is of a pelican carrying a basketball-shaped bulge in its beak pouch.

Also, the color of one's socks has always struck me as somewhat unworthy of commemoration in a team name.

"I'm with the Pelicans" seems unlikely to help as a pickup line, for that matter.

Also, the color of one's socks has always struck me as somewhat unworthy of commemoration in a team name.

The White Sox came along in 1894 and the Red Sox in 1901. They didn't have many things back then to name teams after.

#69 I've posted the tax treaty before. Basically he faces being taxed based on his official state of residence. Roger Clemens ended up way ahead of the game from a tax POV when he signed with the Jays -- taxed as a Texan.

Also, I've been told by people who ought to know that he'll pay a lower tax rate on the signing bonus. IOW in real take home money he'll probably be well ahead of what he was offering to take from the Mets.

(with a side bonus that he gets paid in money that you can see through)

[JP] ran an amazingly porous front office in Toronto, so that everyone in the city knew everything that was happening at all times.

That and hosting 'Wednesdays With JP' on the local sports station.
I kinda miss that for sheer oddness.

That and hosting 'Wednesdays With JP' on the local sports station.
I kinda miss that for sheer oddness

JP was odd in that public relations was one of his biggest weakenesses, and yet he was so willing to engage with fans publicly.