What's In A Name?

10. NY/SF Giants

Little people. Midgets. Dwarves. Pecks. Whatever you choose to call them, someone out there likely considers rooting for a team called the “Giants” discriminatory towards the wee men and women.

9. San Diego Chargers

Original Chargers owner Barron Hilton also owned the Carte Blanche credit card company; hence the name “Chargers”. As in “charge it”. Git it? Alright then. Now, there are twelve-step programs for any addiction you can imagine and I am very familiar with the original. There’s even one for compulsive shoppers. It’s only a matter of time until someone with a shopping addiction (or someone claiming to represent their best interests) takes offense to the name.

8. Boston Red Sox

Whether it’s the Crips or the post- Cold War Neo-McCarthyists, someone is bound to take offense to the “Red” in their sox. Honorable mention: Cincinnati Reds

7. Colorado Rockies

I am disgusted with the fact that fans of Apollo Creed are not picketing Todd Helton’s house.

6. New York Yankees

Anyone south of the Mason-Dixon Line should boycott Frank Sinatra’s signature tune

5. Los Angeles Dodgers

What’s not to hate?

4. University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

I’m not touching that one. Honorable mention: Calgary Flames

3. Alabama Crimson Tide

This is getting gross. Honorable mention: Detroit Red Wings.

2. Dallas Cowboys

If the name Redskins offends a small part of the Native American community, then the name Cowboys should be doubly offensive. Anyone who grew up in the pre-xbox and smart phone era should remember playing “Cowboys and Indians”. What did cowboys do? They killed Indians.

And last but certainly not least…

1. San Diego Padres

Yes, the Padres are named for the Franciscan friars who were among the first Europeans to settle in the area. They built grand missions up and down the California Coast. With slave labor. Native tribes forced into slavery. Or, maybe it wasn’t exactly slavery, since they kind of did get paid. Their payment? The gift of religion. Meaning, the ummm, “civilized” Europeans forced their beliefs on the savages of the New World. Those who continued with their centuries-old spiritual customs were rewarded with severe beatings. Yet those are the things we aren’t taught in school. Now THAT is offensive…