Moving Teams
When Wimbledon FC moved away from London and became the Milton Keynes Dons, there was a large outcry in the sporting world. Here in the US teams moving from city to city is a fairly common occurrence.
Three of California’s baseball teams came from the East Coast. In 1958 The New York Giants moved to California and became the San Francisco Giants. That same year the Brooklyn Dodgers made the move to Southern California and became the LA Dodgers. Ten years later the Philadelphia Athletics followed suit and became the Oakland Athletics.
The Oakland A’s and LA Dodgers had success following their moves, winning World Series within a few years of their moves. The Giants have not won the Series in the half century since their move.
One result of these moves is that team names that made sense in their original location loss the connection. The Dodgers were so named because getting to the park in Brooklyn involves dodging across trolley bus tracks; whatever hazards there might be in LA, avoiding public transport is not one of them.
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At least ice hockey teams are more sensible (even when the players are busy knocking each other senseless):
Quebec Nordiques move to Colorado, become the Avalanche;
Hartford Whalers move to North Carolina, become the Hurricanes;
Minnesota North Stars move to Dallas, become the Stars;
Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix, become the Coyotes
By the way, what’s a “Nordique?”
A nordique is a “northerner”, which I guess makes the Quebec Nordiques the equivalent of Mancunians.