Buffalo Bisons

106

Part of me thinks this name is genius. For all intents and purposes "buffalo" and "bison" are synonymous in America, so the team has a name where the nickname is synonymous with the city name. There aren't a lot of cities that can do that (Corpus Christi could, but I wouldn't recommend it), and in Buffalo's case there's the added bonus that "Bisons" is both an intimidating name and an uncommon one.

On the other hand, why not just go all out and call the team the Buffalo Buffalo? Calling a team the Buffalo is just as intimidating as calling a team the Bisons (obviously), and even more rare since there have been several teams called the Buffalo Bisons over the years. They wouldn't even have to change the logo other than replacing the word "Bisons" with "Buffalo". Mind you, they could if they wanted, since the current logo is sorta goofy, but let's be honest with ourselves here: The name "Buffalo Bisons" is kinda goofy as well, so the logo fits, and the name "Buffalo Buffalo" would be even goofier. Sure, you could make a logo of a bison that actually looks somewhat intimidating, but it would be wrong on some level. The goofy logo actually works here.

Actually, I just thought of a better idea. I don't want the Buffalo Bisons to change their name to the Buffalo. I want some other team in the International League to change their name to the Buffalo. Let's see, who in that league has a really lame name? Oh, of course: The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Yeah, they should just change their name to the Allentown Buffalo. Or really, any of the other teams could do it; I'm not picky. Then we could have a game between Buffalo and the Buffalo. It would make for the most confusing radio broadcast in the history of sports broadcasting. The newspaper headlines could be amusing as well: "Buffalo defeat Buffalo 3-2". "Buffalo sweeps series against Buffalo". "Cooper traded from Buffalo to Buffalo".

Too silly? Sure. But "Buffalo" is a good nickname for a team, and there's no reason why no one should get to use it just because it's the name of a city. If any potential team owners (any sport) happen to be reading this, I encourage you to give your team the nickname "Buffalo". Especially if you're in the Big Apple, so you can be the New York Buffalo.

Okay, that one's too ridiculous even for me. I'll stop now.

Final Score: 106 points.
Penalties: Wordplay, 23 pts; Alliteration, 5 pts; Equipment, 13 pts; Humanoid, 30 pts; Player, 51 pts.
Bonuses: Name, -10 pts; Local, -6 pts.