College sports features some very unique names indeed, as pointed out by the popular Key and Peele sketch "East/West College Bowl." The team names can be just as unique, but sometimes the name a school decides to go with doesn't exactly strike as much fear in the hearts of opponents as it should. These are the 7 least intimidating team names in D1 college athletics.
Tulane Green Wave
Waves can occasionally be intimidating, and I certainly wouldn't want a tsunami wave rolling into my house, but this name doesn't really get to me. I suppose you can chalk this one up to Midwest bias, but as someone who has not experienced the type of waves that a hurricane or tsunami can produce, this doesn't strike me as a terribly intimidating name. It may carry more weight in the region, but a name should strike fear in opponents across the nation, not just locally.
University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
As my fellow Marquette students can attest, "Warriors" is a pretty awesome and intimidating nickname. "Rainbow Warriors," however, has developed a slightly less intimidating connotation over time. Over the last half-century, the term "rainbow warrior" has come to describe everything from environmentalists to LGBT rights activists. The name originated in 1923 when the Hawaii football team upset Oregon State in their final game of the season, during which a rainbow appeared above the stadium. Adorable? Maybe. Intimidating? Not so much.
Presbyterian College Blue Hoses
Believe it or not, Presbyterian College's nickname used to be worse. It used to be the "Blue Stockings" in reference to—you guessed it—the blue stockings their athletes would wear in the early 1900s. "Hoses" was used interchangeable with "stockings" over the years until finally being adopted by the school in the 1950s. The school claims it refers to fierce Scottish warriors who would wear such stockings, but frankly it only makes me think of a garden hose.
Youngstown State Penguins
There's something about penguins that just makes them too far in-between to be intimidating. They aren't quite a ferocious bird of prey like an eagle or falcon, and they aren't quite a terrifying creature of the deep like a shark or octopus.
One account on the team website says that the name originated in 1933 due to their basketball team stomping their feet and flailing their arms on a chilly night that apparently made them resemble penguins. I'm not sure if a comparison to a flightless bird could possibly be interpreted as a compliment in the context of basketball, but the name stuck.
Akron Zips
The nickname "Zips" does not really elicit feelings of fear and intimidation so much as it begs the question, "What the heck is a zip?" Turns out that this was a shortened form of the original name, "Zippers," coined in 1925 after a campus-wide naming contest. That word had only recently been added to the vocabulary in 1923 by B.F. Goodrich Company to describe the metal fastening devices we use on our clothes. To further confuse people, their mascot is a kangaroo named "Zippy," because why not?
Campbell University Fighting Camels
I see what they were going for here. Aesthetically, the whole "Campbell Camels" thing is pretty good. It is a catchy alliteration, but upon researching the origin story, it became a lot less cool. Apparently the only reason they came up with the name was when school founder and president Dr. James Archibald Campbell misheard a visitor who was trying to cheer him up after the whole school had nearly burned down.
Centenary College Ladies and Gentlemen
I must preface this description with the disclaimer that, as of 2011, the Centenary Ladies and Gentlemen are no longer a member of Division 1. That being said, this was a name that could not be skipped on a list of the least intimidating team names in college sports. The "gentlemen" originated in 1921 when then-Centenary president George Sexton addressed the football team after a fight in a previous game by saying "...from now on, you will act like gentlemen." Perhaps in a day and age where cheating and scandals run rampant through our major sports, we need more ladies and gentlemen in athletics. Nostalgia for more honest times in sports aside, however, this nickname isn't about to make an opposing team cringe with fear.
Which name did you find the least threatening? Which names did I miss? Comment below or tweet me @ZacBellman_WNY to share your thoughts.
