What's in a name? Apparently a lot.
So we were sitting around tD world HQ a few days ago debating which team has the coolest name or nickname in Division I lacrosse. What followed was the list below. Admittedly, the criteria to be considered weren’t extensive; they had to be a Division I school and play lacrosse.
1. UMASS MINUTEMEN (Gorilla Lax): While their actual name invokes thoughts of freedom and patriotism, both of which are pretty cool, their secondary nickname is what lands UMass at the top. There really is none better. It also helps they are known locally as “ZooMass.” Richard F. Garber, coached at UMass for 36 years and was known as the "Father of New England Lacrosse". He led the UMass program from 1954 till 1991 and the team became known as Garber’s Gorillas.
2. ALBANY GREAT DANES (The Dirty Albs or The Dirty): Evoking thoughts of regal, elegant and graceful canines, they should not be confused with greyhounds. Much like UMass, though, it’s their secondary nickname that gets them on the list. Our dad is an alum from back in the day when it was SUNY-Albany, so we’ve been to Albany. Trust us, it’s an accurate name.
3. NJIT HIGHLANDERS: A claymore-wielding, tartan-kilt wearing Scottish warrior with great hair will get you on this list every single time. That’s just plain bad-ass and too Braveheart-esque not to include it.
4. FURMAN PALADINS: A knight on a horse with a lance. What else do you need?
5. DREXEL DRAGONS: Not only is having a fire-breathing, village-destroying entity as your mascot pretty cool, his name is apparently Mario.
6. CLEVELAND STATE VIKINGS: The Fenn College Foxes, which is what CSU was originally called, doesn’t exactly strike fear in to the heart of opponents. Seafaring, land-grabbing, drinking, brawling Norse warriors with nasty beards and horned helmets, now that will make your heart skip a beat. It also pretty much hits all the benchmarks to be included on a list of best nicknames.
7. RICHMOND SPIDERS: Creepy, crawly arachnids make grown adults stand on chairs and shriek little children in fear. Good enough for us. Never mind it came from the nickname of an actual person, named Puss no less, who once played baseball for them back in the 1800s.
8. BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRIERS: While Terriers are typically known as a friendly breed, we put BU on here because they apparently didn’t get that memo. The BU mascot actually appears to be a dog that looks like he might tear your leg off if you try to pet him. Or even look at him.
9. Army West Point Black Knights: Maybe the only thing cooler than a dude on a horse with a lance is a faceless knight-like figure shrouded in all black with a sword. Ignoring the whole West Point rebranding debacle for a minute (Cadets, really?), they also get our vote for coolest service academy team name.
10. VERMONT CATAMOUNTS: Would it really have been that hard to be like everyone else and settle for Mountain Lions or Wildcats? At one point in the ‘60s (of course it happened in the ‘60s), the school had a real Catamount as its mascot. Brings up memories of the scene from Talladega Nights when Reese helps Ricky get his mojo back by having him drive with a live cougar in the car. “I learned nothing about driving, and my Crystal Gayle shirt was ruined.”
11. DUKE BLUE DEVILS: We are not sure what a dude with a pencil-thin mustache and goatee, pitchfork, horns and a cape has to do with French Alpine Soldiers from WWI, but somewhere along the way, one morphed in to the other.
12. Georgetown Hoyas: How a Greek and Latin chant and what is essentially a junkyard dog wearing a spiked collar and a baseball hat somehow go together is beyond us. Let us be the first ones, however, to state we are openly campaigning for a permanent return of the name, Sergeant Stubby.
13. YALE BULLDOGS (Elis): When you are in the Ivy League, your team falls in to one of three categories: colors (Big Red, Crimson, Big Green), animals (Lions and Tigers and Bears) or peace-loving Pilgrims (Quakers). Looking to set itself apart from blazer, slacks and boat-shoes crowd, Yale went with a secondary nickname from the slave-trading founder of their school. Shockingly no one has protested, yet.
14. STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES: As you can probably guess, a SeaWolf is not a real thing. Still, for a Native American folk tale, it is pretty intimidating. For a school that has suffered from an identity crises over the years (Soundmen to Patriots to SeaWolves), it should come as no surprise that it took a unilateral decision by a university president in 1994 to end up with this name.