Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. For the last segment of the show today, as we head toward Super Bowl Sunday, we hereby invite you to call in with what you would name a sports team if you had one to name. If you had control over the naming rights for any brand new sports team or to rename an old one, what name would you choose? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692, or you can tweet, as some people have begun to already. Your potential team names, tweet @BrianLehrer.

If you didn't hear me mention it earlier in the hour, here's why we're doing this. Remember when the Washington DC NFL team dropped its old name because it was considered racist toward Native Americans? They went this year as simply the Washington Football Team. Well, now they've announced that they've chosen a new actual team name and they'll be known as the Washington Commanders. When it was announced? The other day. There was kind of a collective sigh in some quarters too generic, too militaristic, said some fans of the team. Some even said they've just preferred Washington Football Team.

We decided to invite you to get creative. What would you name a sports team if you had one to name? If you had control over the naming rights for any brand new sports team, or to rename an old one, what name would you choose? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. To get your creative juices flowing, here are some examples of some team names that you may or may not know. In college sports, there's the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. Why would they call a team the Banana Slugs? Concordia College in Minnesota, they're the Concordia Cobbers and their mascot is a snarling ear of corn.

There are some absolutely incredible names in Minor League Baseball. How about the Montgomery Biscuits from Montgomery, Alabama, whose mascot is an anthropomorphic buttermilk biscuit? There's the Toledo Mud Hens. You might be picking up on a couple of themes here already. You can name a team for an animal or something edible, or you can find some other way to connect to your team's hometown think Albuquerque Isotopes. That's a real thing. Atomic because of New Mexico's many nuclear technology facilities. They were also the inspiration for the Springfield Isotopes if you're a fan of The Simpsons.

Have you been sitting on an idea for a team name waiting for an opportunity to share it? Now's your chance. 212-433-WNYC, or tweet @BrianLehrer. Worth a shout-out is the WNBA. Is it a coincidence that a Women's Pro League has some really dignified and enlightened team names like The Sun, The Sky, The Dream, and The Liberty? Of course, that's the New York team. No commanders or generals or warriors in sight. Might there be anybody listening who's had the opportunity to name a sports team? I once had the opportunity to help name the WNYC Softball Team, believe it or not, which we decided to call The Independents.

A very strong virtue in journalism, we think, independence. We thought of doing it in that collective now, The Independents, but we named it The Independents, plural. Let's hear your team naming stories or suggestions. 212-433-WNYC, or tweet @BrianLehrer, and we'll take them after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now as we head toward Super Bowl Sunday, we hereby invite you to call in with what you would name a sports team if you had one to name. We're getting a lot on the phones. We've gotten a lot this hour already on Twitter. I'll go down a few of the tweets to start it off. Somebody wrote, "My idea for The Washington Football Team was-- Oh, these are going by so fast. I can't even read them before they disappear --was the Washington Dukes, a reference to Duke Ellington," a DC native, which that listener likes. Somebody else had The Washington PIGs for Political Interest Groups. Larry in Millburn is calling in with another one for the Washington Football Team. Hi, Larry.

Larry: Hi, there.

Brian Lehrer: What do you got?

Larry: Well, I think Washington should have been the Washington Lobbyists, and their mascot would be the Monopoly Tycoon.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Thank you. From the game a little tiny monopoly tycoon piece. Patrick in Inwood has another one for the Washington Team. Hi, Patrick.

Patrick: Hi. I think that should have been called The Filibusters.

Brian Lehrer: And why not? Thank you. Oh, Charlotte in Jersey City has a family story about actually getting to name a pro team. Is that right, Charlotte?

Charlotte: Well, I didn't get to name it, obviously, but my grandfather, Frederick McLaughlin named it, he started it, owned it, and named it after his World War I Flying Squadron, which was called The Blackhawks.

Brian Lehrer: Wow.

Charlotte: Yes. Sadly, my mother was young enough and swayed enough that when her father died, she was in her maybe 20, 21. Her financial advisors advised her to sell the team. Otherwise, I could be owning it right now, which is too bad, but she would have been very concerned about the name change thing, and the Blackhawks have decided not to change it and just do a lot of outreach to indigenous peoples and the Chicago area.

They declined to rename it the Hawks, which a lot of people were saying you should do that. I haven't actually kept up with it. There are five of us descendants who had a lot of discussion at the time, but I don't know if they've really held up their word about doing significant outreach about it in order to justify keeping the name Blackhawks.

Brian Lehrer: Good story. [crosstalk] Your grandfather named it.

Charlotte: Yes. My grandmother designed the logo. A lovely ballroom dancing famous white woman. He didn't reach out to the indigenous people at the time, so it's interesting.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for the story, Charlotte. I really appreciate it. Let's see on Twitter. Somebody writes, "The insert owner's name Ego Trip." Mark in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi Mark. What do you got?

Mark: Oh, hey. Hear me out. The DC Dinos. There's all kinds of advertising tie-ins with the Museum of Natural History. You just picture all the fans wearing those inflatable T-Rex costumes to the games. I think it would have been awesome. Dinosaurs are awesome.

Brian Lehrer: Dinosaurs are awesome. The DC Dinos. Let's see. Somebody writes, "The Modesto Nuts." I don't even know what that means. Somebody else writes, "For a Minor League Baseball Team, the Las Vegas 51s." Is that a real one, or is that a made-up one? I think that's after Area 51, which is-- it's like a UFO thing, isn't it? The Las Vegas 51s. How about Mandell in West Hartford, who has a naming story? Hi, Mandell.

Mandell: Hey, Brian, thanks a lot for having me on the show again.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks a lot for calling. What do you got?

Mandell: Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Mandell: Well, I was the coach for Kipp NYC College Prep. I coached their girl's volleyball team. I decided after my first year that we should call it The Women's Volleyball Team to empower all of them that at that point in their life, they should understand that they were no longer girls and that they were women.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, thank you very much for that. Peter in St. Petersburg, you're on WNYC. Hello from New York, Peter.

Peter: Hello. The Washington Red Tape. That's perfect, don't you think?

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Just perfect. Thank you. Oh, did you want to add something? Did you have a second one?

Peter: Oh, well, I was going to say about animals. First of all, if I were to name something, be definitely sensitive to racial and historical things that may be a stigma. I like the Caribous. I think a team could also bring attention to animals that are endangered, rams are an endangered species called World Wildlife Fund. You can get a list of-- and they're on the list.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, the rams are actually one of the two NFL teams in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Peter, thank you very much. John in Neptune City, you're on WNYC. Hi, John.

John: Hi, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. You have a Jersey one.

John: Yes, sir. I would like to see a woman softball team by the name of the Jersey Tomatoes.

Brian Lehrer: Why not a men's softball team?

John: Well, they could be the Jersey Corns.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, all right. We're going gender traditional there. From Twitter, boy, these are coming in so fast, the DC Dictators. Someone else writes, "If the Washington Football Team were really about a new legacy, they would have become instead of the Washington Commanders, the Washington Space Commanders." Someone else writes, ''The DC Rhinos,'' and someone else ''The Ambassadors.'' Someone else ''The Washington Machines.'' [laughs] Someone else ''The Underdogs.'' Everyone loves an underdog. John in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, John, do you have a team name? John in Manhattan, are you there?

John: This is John.

Brian Lehrer: John in Manhattan, I apologize. Yes, it's you.

John: Yes. I had the New York Noise.

Brian Lehrer: The New York Noise. Everybody would know where you were from if you called the team The Noise. Chad in Westchester, you're on WNYC. Hi, Chad.

Chad: Hey, Brian, a longtime listener, first-time caller. This spoke to me because my brother and I, who grew up in New York City on the Upper West Side, had a softball team that we put together in a Central Park League. This was probably 25 years ago and we were big movie fans and big baseball movie fans. One of our favorite films growing up was Field of Dreams, so we somehow came up with what we thought was a pretty original team name of the Moonlight Grahams named after Archibald Graham in the film and just loved it. I thought it was a pretty cool name for a softball team. We were the Moonlight Grahams-

Brian Lehrer: Moonlight Grahams.

Chad: -and it continues today on a team that I've put together up here in Westchester, so it lives on.

Brian Lehrer: Chad, thank you very much. Go Grahams. George in Bay Ridge is going to be our last one. Do you want to rename the Nets? Do I see this right?

George: No, the Brooklyn Nets when they moved to Bay Ridge [unintelligible 00:12:08] Brooklyn, they should have changed their name to Hoopsters to honor all the hipsters in Brooklyn.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, the Hoopsters instead of the Nets, Mets, Jets, Juggernaut, Go Nets. They might still pull it out this year, but that's another show.

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