Paul Volponi - Thats My Team!: The History, Science, and Fun Behind Sports Teams Names

Paul Volponi is a writer, educator, and journalist living in New York City. He is the award-winning author of twelve novels for young adults, and the recipient of twelve American Library Association honors. Black and White is the winner of the International Reading Associations Childrens Book Award. That novel of social justice was inspired by the six years the author worked on Rikers Island (the worlds biggest jail) teaching incarcerated teens to read and write. The Final Four , about the mens NCAA Basketball Tournament, received five starred reviews and is on the NYC Chancellors Ninth-Grade Reading List (NYC Reads 365). Top Prospect , a middle-grade novel about an eighth-grader given an early college football scholarship, is part of Scholastics nationwide book club.

The author holds an MA in American literature from the City College of New York and a BA in English from Baruch College.

You can read excerpts from all of Paul Volponis YA novels, discover their origins, and read the authors notes at http://paulvolponibooks.com, or visit him on Facebook.

Published by Rowman & Littlefield
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Copyright 2019 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Volponi, Paul, author.

Title: Thats my team! : the history, science, and fun behind sports teams names / Paul Volponi.

Description: Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019000246 (print) | LCCN 2019017640 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538126745 (Electronic) | ISBN 9781538126738 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Sports teamsUnited StatesHistory. | Sports teamsUnited StatesNamesHistory.

Classification: LCC GV583 (ebook) | LCC GV583 .V65 2019 (print) | DDC 796.06dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019000246

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Thank you to the people throughout my life who encouraged me to write:

Paul Volponi Sr.
Mary Volponi
April Volponi
Sabrina Volponi
Adam Weiss
Angelo Spanodemos
Andrea Orsini
Rosemary Stimola
Lenny Shulman
Evan Hammonds
Christen Karniski

I grew up pretending to read the books my teachers gave meall through middle school and high school. I was a really good reader, but the assigned books didnt motivate me. So I listened to the discussion about the books in class in order to get a passing grade. That sharpened my skills as a listener. As a result, I became fascinated by language and the idea of story. I took that love of language to the basketball court. As a street basketball player in New York City, my ears soaked up the sounds of spoken stories. I knew the nickname of every pro and college team, not only in basketball but in all sports. When I became an English teacher, I took those team names and their origins into the classroom to share with my students. This book was born of that collective journey. I hope we can walk together through these pages, and that you will allow me to be your personal guide to those magical moments when sports meets knowledge.

W hats in a name? Plenty. Theres pride, passion, and a sense of identity. Perhaps there is no greater association with names in our society than in the arena of sports. Yet individual players names sewn onto the back of uniforms ultimately fade behind the team names emblazoned across the front. Even legendary sports heroes such as Michael Jordan, Jackie Robinson, Tom Brady, and soccers Mia Hamm take their place beneath the banners of Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Dodgers, New England Patriots, and Team USA.

Sports fans are rarely shy about proclaiming their loyalties. T-shirts, jerseys, jackets, and caps provide open testimony for all to see. For many fans, the pronoun we has replaced they : We won! We lost! Were #1! Its a true tribute to the unifying nature of sports. And at the heart of every such connection is a team name. Such affiliations can forge lifelong bonds, extending from the playing fields and stands into the streets and collective consciousness of the surrounding city. The chasm separating Cubs fans on the North Side of Chicago from White Sox fans on the South Side can run as deep and wide as any natural divide.

Rivalries and factions based on team names inserted after the word Go! can literally fracture households. But when the pull is strong enough, even the allegiance of boundaries can be overcome. Yes, the visitors can actually garner cheers over the home team. And as the overwhelmingly popular Dallas Cowboys championship squads of the 1990s can attest, it is indeed possible to become Americas Team.

If you take the time to examine the nicknames of your favorite professional and college sports teams, youll discover that theyve been inspired by history, science, literature, music, and a slew of other subjects. Thats right. The teams for which you root read like an encyclopedia of learning.

Nicknames can be created in any number of fashions. Baseballs Colorado Rockies recognize an outstanding geological featurethe Rocky Mountains. Footballs Pittsburgh Steelers are an example of a name inspired by a regional occupationPennsylvanias steel industry. Some teams, such as the Boston Celtics and Sad Diego State Aztecs, are named after people who influenced a particular city or region. Today, however, the debate rages over the appropriateness of teams named after Native American culture. Nicknames such as Indians, Braves, and, of course, Redskins, remain at the center of the controversy.

Franchises that have moved from one city to another arent obligated to change their nicknames. That can create some head-scratching combinations, such as the puzzling Utah Jazz of professional basketball. (Jazz has its roots in Utah? Really? )

What historical events are behind names such as the Philadelphia 76ers, San Francisco 49ers, and Oklahoma Sooners? How do the names of womens professional teams today differ from those of the 1940s? What inspired the owner of the Washington Bullets to change his teams name to the Wizards? How did the University of Floridas nickname impact the sports drink Gatorade?

Together, we will answer these questions and many more as we explore the significance of the names bestowed upon our favorite sports teams. Along the way we will encounter a number of challenges that will exercise our minds and our creativity. Well even have several opportunities at a rather unique challengegiving a brand-new sports franchise a fitting and inspiring name. But most of all, we will celebrate the moving, thought-provoking, and powerful nature of these nicknames that make you leap to your feet and shout, Thats my team!