Note: This may be the one and only time you see a post on this blog about hockey.
Hamilton's getting an NHL team!!! Yes, it's true. Based on all of the unfounded rumours and wildly speculative headlines, Jim Balsillie (the knight in shining armour of Southern Ontario) has only to slay Gary Bettman (the evil dragon of the NHL), and the Phoenix Coyotes (damsels in distress) will be rescued, and live happily ever after, right here in my town.
And you know what that means. It means the team needs a new name.
Coyotes in Hamilton only spark a debate between the "move them somewhere else" side and the "kill 'em where they stand" side. Coyotes are not welcome in Hamilton.
So there will be a contest. You know there will. And the winner of that contest will win seasons tickets for life.
You hadn't thought that far ahead, had you? Neither had I. But Spike is already deep in thought, determined to be at every Hamilton "____" game from this fall until the end of time.
Through an accidental combination of tripping over my own tongue, and recently returning from my denominational conference where we elected Very Important People, I suggested the "Hamilton Presbyters". Scoff if you will. But how is "Presbyters" a worse name for a sports team than "Senators"?
I thought about the "Hamilton Splash" - this being the waterfall capital of the world, or Ontario, or something. Spike's withering gaze killed that one.
Steelers (because we're a steeltown) and Blues (because we're a blue-collar town) are both already taken.
How about the "Hamilton Surgeons" - since the health industry is now bigger than the steel industry?
I'll tell you what. You answer the question - what name would YOU give the NHL team that is most certainly coming to Hamilton? And if the name wins, we'll go to the games together.
