Traverse City Baseball has announced six finalists for the “Name the Team Contest” ahead of its inaugural Northwood League (Summer Collegiate) season. After receiving more than 3,000 submissions, the ownership is now inviting fans to choose their favorite. The options are the following: Black Pearls, Dogmen, Dune Bears, Pit Spitters, Tree Shakers, and Sasquatch. Read more and vote here.
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I am upset that my choices “Cherry Kings” and “Cherry Sox” were not selected. However, I like Pit Spitters and Tree Shakers, something that ties in with the local area and is different enough that it doesn’t sound too hokey.
I live in Traverse City, so I understand all of these choices…except for “Sasquatch.” That has nothing to do with our area. They can toss that one in the garbage.
I understand “Pit Spitters,” but I hate the thought of that as our team name.
“Dogmen” has local ties, but not well known.
I think I’d vote for “Dune Bears.”
The options here are not great, but I would have to go with Dune Bears first and Black Pearls second. Although the logo is terrible, the Sasquatch brand is already in use by the Spearfish Sasquatch (Summer Collegiate, Expedition League), so it wouldn’t be unique unless Traverse City did it far better. I would ditch the rest of these names. The remaining three can’t possibly be tops out of 3,000 entries. I guess if the ownership were to choose six really great names, they would risk the chance of getting the one they really want (or have already chosen) in the game of “fans choose.” That said, it didn’t stop the ownership of the Rocky Mountain Vibes from going a completely different route from their list of finalists.
Alan