WI: Houston 1836 keeps name

Suppose Major League Soccer's Houston 1836 did not change to Houston Dynamo right before the 2006 season.

Would attendance be the lowest in the league?

Could the franchise really afford to ignore the objections from the Hispanic community?

Would they fold after only a year or two?
 
Suppose Major League Soccer's Houston 1836 did not change to Houston Dynamo right before the 2006 season.

Would attendance be the lowest in the league?

Could the franchise really afford to ignore the objections from the Hispanic community?

Would they fold after only a year or two?

Why did they change their name in the first place?
 
Also is it just me or is Chicago Fire a really morose sports team name? That'd be like having the Galveston Hurricanes or San Francisco Earthquake or New York 9/11s.
 
Also is it just me or is Chicago Fire a really morose sports team name? That'd be like having the Galveston Hurricanes or San Francisco Earthquake or New York 9/11s.

I'm sure the Chicago Fire probably defend the name saying it represents the resolve and resiliency of Chicagoans, but I am not entirely sure.

As for the situation in Houston, it seems like some people got pretty butthurt about 1836 being changed to Dynamo.
 
As a Houstonian, I was only vaguely aware that it was ever called the 1836. Then again, I usually don't remember it even exists. I'm not a big sports person.
Actually, is it just me, or is "1836" kind of a weird name for a sports team?
 

TFSmith121

Banned
This is the same city that hosted a MLB franchise

As a Houstonian, I was only vaguely aware that it was ever called the 1836. Then again, I usually don't remember it even exists. I'm not a big sports person. Actually, is it just me, or is "1836" kind of a weird name for a sports team?

This is the same city that hosted a MLB franchise named after a pistol, after all...

images


Best,
 
This is the same city that hosted a MLB franchise named after a pistol, after all...

images


Best,

Yeah, but at least a pistol is a tangible object. In my opinion, that's only slightly more ludicrous than, say, naming a team after boot attachments.
 

TinyTartar

Banned
As a Houstonian, I was only vaguely aware that it was ever called the 1836. Then again, I usually don't remember it even exists. I'm not a big sports person.
Actually, is it just me, or is "1836" kind of a weird name for a sports team?

Kind of.

MLS teams love to try to copy Europe and Latin America for no other reason than the cool kids are doing it.

Why is the Salt Lake team called Real Salt Lake? Why is every new club using FC in their title? Why do a bunch of clubs have "United" in their title?

Houston in that case was trying to simply copy German clubs like FC Schalke 04 or Hannover 96. 1836 was kind of awkward, but then again, we have a pro football team called the 49ers and a Basketball team called the 76ers. It could have been shortened to Houston 36 or Houston 36ers or something like that.

They ended up scrapping that and calling themselves Houston Dynamo to copy teams like Dynamo Kiev or Dynamo St. Petersburg, as Dynamo was a Soviet era athletic club. It was just more poserish copying of Europe, but the brand worked, so it stuck.
 
Houston in that case was trying to simply copy German clubs like FC Schalke 04 or Hannover 96. 1836 was kind of awkward, but then again, we have a pro football team called the 49ers and a Basketball team called the 76ers. It could have been shortened to Houston 36 or Houston 36ers or something like that.

It still doesn't work as well because the years in Schalke and Hanover were the years the teams were founded. I guess it's the allusion to when Texas was founded, but it just doesn't work so that could be partly why they changed it. At least Real Salt Lake eventually became affiliated with Real Madrid (after a spat with Juan Carlos over the use of Real).
 
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