Yuba-Sutter Freebirds

138

Before we begin, please honor the name of the team by raising your cigarette lighter in one hand while reading this review. Or, since this is 2026 and you probably don't have a cigarette lighter (and it would probably get confiscated if you tried to take it to a concert anyway), just hold your phone up and pretend this isn't completely dorky. Not that holding your cigarette lighter up wasn't just as dorky.

This is the third year the team currently known as the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds has been in existence, and it is also their third name. They debuted in 2024 as the Yolo High Wheelers, so named because the city of Davis, California (which is where the team played; Davis is in Yolo County) is home to the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame and has so much infrastructure for cyclists that your average American is probably wondering if the city thinks it's in the Netherlands or Denmark. Then, after just one season, the team relocated to the city of Marysville, which is about an hour away and not in Yolo County, so it changed its name to the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers.* Then, after the 2025 season ended, it occurred to the team that Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers makes about as much sense as Los Angeles Lakers or Utah Jazz. And that wouldn't have been a problem if the High Wheelers play basketball, but they don't so they needed to come up with something new.

The Freebirds name, from what I can find, has nothing to do with the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. In fact it doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything. The team's own press release simply says it "stands for freedom, confidence, and lift." If you can figure out what this is supposed to mean please tell me, because I have no idea. Their logo features a chicken whose name is apparently Willy the Wild Chicken, "whose dreams to fly are bigger than his wingspan". So now I understand why the logo features a chicken wearing aviator's goggles. Or at least I understand that as well as I understand anything else about all this, which is not at all. The press release further says that the brand "leans into the lighter side of baseball". Um, okay. I guess I cann't argue with that.

That said, who are we kidding? Of course the name comes from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Where else could it possibly come from? All that nonsense about Willy the Wild Chicken and standing for confidence and lift are just cover because for some reason they didn't want to admit the obvious. Why didn't they want to admit the obvious? Hell if I know. Are they worried about being sued? I don't think a songwriter can stop a team from using their name. If they could, the NHL team couldn't have named themselves after a W.C. Handy song. Besides, what are they worried about? If Lynyrd Skynyrd tells them to quit calling themselves the Freebirds, they just change their name.

And given the history of this team, they're probably planning on having a new name next year anyway.

*

Marysville is the county seat for Yuba County, California, and is located at the edge of the county where the Feather River and Yuba River meet. Across the Feather River from Yuba County is Sutter County. Incidentally, just across the Feather River from Marysville is the county seat for Sutter County, which is named Yuba City. I really wish that it was the Yuba River rather than the Feather River that was between the two, so that I could truthfully say that Yuba (City) is separated from Yuba (County) by Yuba (River).

Final Score: 138 points.
Penalties: Region, 8 pts; Humanoid, 30 pts; Colorful, 31 pts; Cartoon, 47 pts; Name, 10 pts; Logo, 12 pts.
Bonuses: None.