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Geography 10-1
or, everything | know about geography | learned from sports names

By Kevin Welsh, OP Features Editor

 

time, didn’t care). The other struck me—TI thought it fo the south of Dallas, Howgton sports teams are

  

  
 

was wonderful. The shape of the “W,” the whale’s fin, derived from the local aeronauti€s industry. The NBA
the way the blue and green played off each other. Rockets, NL Astros (who were formerly called the Colt
Instead of retreating to my room, I instead broke into 45’s), and AHL Aeros all pay their respects to the

my brother’s room and hauled out his:fledgling hockey indufry that fuels Houston. The old NFL Oilers, again,
card collection. | rummaged through the ee tossing were hame Bay. Other Houston

cards hither and yon before finally finding one that had teams fr 1 ;
ing for. I could care less about the ball’s Mav ericks, and football s Marshz ae
player—it was MerlinsMali i, if you must know—
it was the team T was | :

 

the logo I was.)

    
       
   
  
  
 

Nashville is best known as the country music capital
of the USA, and it’s little surprise that some of the

ea thas all to 0 sae my criticisms ad f
praises. A short time later, I delved into my
then 1 begad Making my own alae oes

featured the Indianapolis Saints, Dayton Owls, and
Miami Rockets, among others. Nothing’s really changed

for me, either—thanks to video games. When I play

Im leading the BC Lions against the Memphis
Steamw heelers, Birmingham Regulators, or Milwaukee _

~ Mean Mees = when I - omens Eleven, I'm kick

 
    

teams oleae in minor or srl r profile fos, Some
eg are recycled, but a major trend over the past 15
years has been to grab the orig same—the moniker
t not only is not being u: of league team,
Iso hasn’t been used b Traditional
s like the Stars, Expr r animal are
é. Clubs are looking fo me to identify
selves, and local land and industry

  
 
 
  

 

 
 
   
  

 

  

 
 
 
 

    
  
   
   
 
   
     

 

I am a tian Gf midré than a Few obsessions: soccer, hor-
rot movies, videogames, women, Christmas (I love this

 

ers play baseball

time of year), what my family thinks of me, and the . pinners is certainly

Canucks, just to name a few. I have also spent a great

deal of time studying geography ep i
obsession) and, of all things, Po

  
    
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
   
 

an identity—and turning to officia

¢ heritage is fairly common.

  

y

In The Beginning

When I was,a, young boy, spent ti fime pouring over ,

maps of the w rid, etary FF ie and the
USA. I would do | sO a sense OF wonder—the kind

most children would have felt studying a map of

Tolkein’s Middle Earth—with each city, river, shore,
mountain, and valley sparking my imagi
were the Appalachian Mountains like?
Charlotte, and what goes on there? I
really surrounded by swamps?
Nova Scotia differ from
Originally, I became

about

  

 

ay, I still occasionally kick back in ee! of the we ae soccer teams called the Dillons Baseball’s
ee er Cats are named after the term fluid catalytic
cracking, for short), which refers to the
name was taken Fiske from a ay
aes in the West Virginia city.

 
      
  
 

cee hockey uk iA ha my y athlon ber Gould peopel OS NEL Cowboys, NBA
inevitably become bored and retreat to my room to play Maveticks, and the Texas Rangers (located in nearby

   

Wiknington, Beicwace a few years back, team eflicials

with my Star Wars figures. One cold, dark night, I was Arlington) are now joined by arena football’s reached into the past and adopted the name of a for-
scurrying away from the living room when the CBC Desperados in recognizing the Wild West roots of mer minor league baseball ee Wilmington Blue
flashed a pair of hockey logos. One, the Montreal Texas. Other Dallas teams through the years have Rocks. In this ¢ Ock

a a : ey :
Canadiens, I had seen before and knew (but, at the included football’s Texans and indoor soccet’s Sidekicks. strings of blue g