OT: NYTimes article on the steady disappearance of nicknames
I searched, but could not find this yet on the board. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/sports/great-sports-nicknames-like-ma…
I absolutely agree - it's sad to see how nicknames are slowly fading away or becoming blatantly mindless, like A-Rod. Or to coin our own example, the number of people that call Denard Robinson "D-Rob." He has a nickname already, and it's awesome. It's unique. It's "Shoelace." Denard "Shoelace" Robinson. This is awesome because it has such a dirty jazz feel to it and should stick, forever and ever until the end of time. Certainly not D-Rob. Or Nard-dawg, or whatever. Shoelace.
Anyway, there's that.
Two things:
- The line is "jerk store"
- The nickname is Shoelace
I don't care about anything else.
Jerk store!
...the life support machine store called and....
You're through Riley! You just screwed yourself!!
The disappearance of nicknames isn't all bad.
Part of the problem is that there's a lot of wanting to see nicknames, which results in phony bullshit that nobody likes. Like "Butterfly." Or Kobe calling himself Black Mamba.
And all the A-Rod ripoffs sound awfully trite, and they are, but on some level it's not much different than the early part of the last century when every baseball player everywhere was either Kid, Lefty, Doc, or Red. Or Swede if they happened to be Swedish.
Nicknames are also less necessary with names like Kobe and LeBron where you always know who's being referred to. When everyone was John or Bill it was easier to hand out nicknames.
Or if they were Jewish, and just looked Swedish.
And Native American players were called Chief, and German-American players were called Dutch. But you also had Walter "the Big Train" Johnson.
Here are some newer nicknames for Tiger relievers for those of you who are fans.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2011/05/nicknames_for_detroit_tigers_r.html
Money quote from commenter benchesclear:
Brad Thomas = ExLax, he gives other teams the runs.
I don't know why he is still on the ML roster.
My favorite nicknames remain "Bad News" (it just always works on so many levels), Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns and Apollo "The Count of MonteFisto" Creed, and "Night Train." It is sad that the most memorable one in the past years is "Pudge." Oh how we've failed as a nation.
What do you mean, we still have The Sweatervest...and you know exactly who that means.
Free tats and wine coolers for everyone!! Go Bucks !! - jt
I guess we won't be hearing about "The Butterfly" anymore.
I've certainly heard Franzen referred to as "The Mule" much more often than as "Johan". That's probably second to "Shoelace" on my list of currently active nicknames. On the Wings, there's also "Hank" and, until recently, "The Professor".
But yeah - nicknames are a dying breed. I think the article made a good point when it talked about branding. It's a lot easier to build a marketing campaign around "Kobe Bryant" than "Pudge Rodriguez". This may be why nicknames are dying fastest in the NBA, where individual players drive branding much more so than in, say, baseball or hockey.
had brain surgery, he developed an eye twitch. His teamates dubbed him "Blinky"
But If you ever get a chance to meet Gordie Howe, I wouldn't suggest calling him anything other than "Mr. Howe"
edit: In the right context, "Mr. Hockey" would also be appropriate.
I wonder if Lou Fontinato ever called him "Blinky?"
Something made Gordie angry enough to do this to his face.
As far as Pistons go, Greg Monroe is known as "Moose". I love it.
Speaking of Pistons, we had the Worm, the Spider, the Microwave.
Don't forget Zeke, and Buddha Edwards.
Course, the Pistons have been carrying on the nickname tradition nicely, what with Mr. Big Shot and Rip.
"Rip" is pretty good. "Mr. Big Shot" . . . meh. A really good nickname shouldn't be too flattering. It should be a little weird, but endearing in that way. "Spider," "Worm," "Buddha" - those fit that pattern. "Shoelace" does too.
Yeah, if you have a name as original as Chauncey (he's the only one in NBA history) a nickname isn't too necessary.
That's okay, but "Moose" is getting a bit overused. I didn't like how the Maize Rage insisted on calling Graham Brown "Moose" when he had an awesome, homegrown nickname: "Hambone."
Some of the nicknames from the past I liked:
- Hammerin' Hank Aaron
- William "The Refrigerator" Perry
- Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson
- Kenny "Sky" Walker
- Michael "Air" Jordan
- Glenn "Doc" Rivers
- Anthony "Spud" Webb
- Karl "The Mailman" Malone
- Earvin "Magic" Johnson
- Dr. J
- Craig "Ironhead" Heyward
- Eric "Sleepy" Floyd
- Clyde "The Glide" Drexler
- Sweetness (Walter Payton)
- Charlie Hustle (Pete Rose)
- Wayne "Tree" Rollins
- "Big Cat" Andres Galarraga
You can see my Atlanta upbringing in a few of those names. I didn't include some childhood nicknames, like Ickey (Elbert) Woods, Tiger (Edlrick) Woods, and Chipper (Larry) Jones.
Of course, sometimes the nicknames were used so much more often than the players' actual names that it's hard to recall their real names! How many people referred to Doc Rivers as "Glenn" or to Spud Webb as "Anthony"? Not many, I'd guess.
One nickname I can't stand: Chris "Beanie" Wells. Lame.
Don't forget Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues.
Nicknames sometimes were cruel in the old days. There was once a baseball player named Hazen Cuyler (pronounced kye-ler) who stuttered really badly. When people asked him his name, he would say "Cuy...Cuy..." and as a result, he was known as "Kiki".
Even thoroughbreds lost their nicknames, not that they need them.
-Secretariat aka "Big Red"
-Spectacular Bid aka "The Bid" maybe not really a nickname
-Seattle Slew aka "Baby Huey"
-Real Quiet aka "The Fish"
How did a horse get nicknamed "the Fish"?
How do they get their names at all???