Balladeer's Blog

Once again it’s time for another Top 20 contest. This time we’ll be looking at the coolest-named sports teams in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Christian College Athletic Association. As usual readers will have the next 20 days to e-mail me with their votes for which team they feel has the coolest name. I can be reached at Thtcom15@aol.com . 

20. OHIO STATE-MARION SCARLET WAVE

Location: Marion, OH

Major Sports: basketball, volleyball, golf 

Site: http://osumarion.osu.edu/ScarletWave/

Comment: The Scarlet Wave is a nickname every bit as cool as The Crimson Tide and The Green Wave. You can’t go wrong with names like this for sports teams as far as I’m concerned and I’ve been saying for years that when Syracuse changed their team’s names from The Orangemen to The Orange that they’d have been better off going with something like The Orange Force instead.  

19. MAINE-AUGUSTA MOOSE

Location: Augusta, ME

Major sports: basketball, soccer, golf

Site: http://www.uma.edu/athletics.html

Comment: Fear the Moose! Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may recall that my D3 20 Coolest list had the Mary Baldwin College Squirrels and  I wished then that the Moose played in the same division so I could do a “Moose and Squirrel” bit. No harm done, though, since I’ve now used the same lame joke on both lists.  

18. CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA SILVER KNIGHTS 

 

Location: Summerdale, PA 

Major sports: basketball

Site: http://www.centralpenn.edu/studentlife/athletics.shtml

Comment: Silver Knights hoops! Hey, if you can have the Silver Samurai why not the Silver Knights? You have got to love this team’s name and logo. I want to see a basketball game between this school and the St Norbert Green Knights.    

17. TALLADEGA TORNADOES

Location: Talladega, AL

Major sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, softball, golf

Site: http://www.talladegatornadoes.com/

Comment: Now, you may think of car racing when you hear Talladega but I think of the Talladega College Tornadoes! That name stands out tall and proud in a college sports landscape littered with teams called Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.  

16. FLORIDA CHRISTIAN SUNS

Location: Kissimmee, FL

Major sports: basketball, volleyball

Site: http://www.fcc.edu/students/athletics/default.asp

Comment: The Suns is a very cool and very memorable name for sports teams. I think something like the Novas or the Supernovas would also work pretty well. Anyway, these Suns are from another school I’d love to see add football!  

15. SILVER LAKE COLLEGE LAKERS

Location: Manitowoc, WI

Major sports: basketball, golf, cross country

Site: http://www.sl.edu/athletics/

Comment: These Lakers are the pride of Manitowoc, WI and have the extra added attraction of a logo sporting one of those mascots cool enough to merit their own cartoon series.    

 

14. CROWN COLLEGE ROYAL CRUSADERS

Location: Powell, TN

Major sports: basketball, soccer, volleyball

Site: http://thecrowncollege.com/athletics/

Comment: This school takes the already immeasurably cool name Crusaders and takes it to the next level by slapping the word Royal in front. What’s not to like? 

13. NEW HAMPSHIRE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE LYNX

Location: Concord, NH

Major sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, cross country, volleyball, softball

Site: http://www.nhti.edu/campuslife/athletics.html

Comment: You have got to love a college sports team with a feline nickname that is not one of the overused ones like Tigers or Wildcats. Terrific name and a great looking logo!  

 12. OHIO CHRISTIAN TRAILBLAZERS 

Location: Circleville, OH 

Major sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, softball, golf

Site: http://www.ohiochristian.edu/trailblazer-athletics

Comment: This cool-looking figure looks ready to blaze a trail into outer space! In the video game age you can’t beat that mascot, who looks like the kind of butt-kicking character that gamers drool over. Forget the NBA’s “Jailblazers” and follow the real thing here!  

11. ST MARY OF THE WOODS POMEROYS

Location: St Mary-Of-The-Woods, IN 

Major sports: basketball, softball, soccer, golf, equestrian, cross country

Site: http://www.smwc.edu/athletics/

Comment: This school’s teams are named after Mary Joseph Pomeroy, who graduated from and taught at the institution. The Woodsies, as they’re called , take pride in the fact that their school was founded  as an academy for young women in 1841 by a woman who went on to become Indiana’s first Saint, Mother Theodore Guerin. 

10. OZARK CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AMBASSADORS

Location: Joplin, MO 

Major sports: basketball, baseball, volleyball

Site: http://occ.edu/students/default.aspx?id=90

Comment: Remember the expression “Ambassador without portfolio?” Well, I don’t know what that means either, so let’s just soak in the grandeur of this incredibly cool nickname and that eye-catching logo!  

9. MIAMI U-HAMILTON HARRIERS

Location: Hamilton, OH 

Major sports: basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, golf

Site: http://www.ham.muohio.edu/athletics/

Comment: A Harrier can be a bird, a dog, a VTOL jet or a biplane torpedo bomber. Any one of those applications of the word would make for a cool logo to go with the cool nickname, but obviously since this institution is affiliated with the Miami (OH) RedHawks they went with the bird imagery.    

8. OAKLAND CITY UNIVERSITY MIGHTY OAKS

Location: Oakland City, IN

Major sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, softball 

Site: http://www.oak.edu/athletics2/index.php

Comment: No, not the Menlo Oaks, the Mighty Oaks. I hope their teams host some sort of Arbor Day Classic or something, maybe against the Indiana State Sycamores. I’m just kidding, of course, but the name Mighty Oaks is fantastic!  

7. JOHNSON BIBLE COLLEGE PREACHERS/EVANGELS

Location: Knoxville, TN 

Major sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, cross country

Site: http://www.jbc.edu/athletics.html

Comment: The Preachers has that type of eccentric cool feel to it that I love about so many college sports teams. The women’s teams go by the equally cool nickname The Evangels, so this institution has you covered in all kinds of ways for your cool-named sports team needs.   

6. ST LOUIS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE SOLDIERS

Location: Florissant, MO

Major sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, cross country

Site: http://www.slcconline.edu/athletics/

Comment: “Onward, St Louis Christian College Soldiers!” This nickname is unbelievably cool for all kinds of reasons, not least of which is the fact that the song I referred to above always reminds me of the very odd series finale of Little House On The Prairie. That episode was proof positive that The Loneliest Runner may not have been the strangest thing Michael Landon ever masterminded for television.

5. PROVIDENCE COLLEGE & SEMINARY FREEMEN

Location: Otterburne, Manitoba, Canada 

Major sports: basketball, soccer, volleyball

Site: http://www.providencecollege.ca/athletics/

Comment: The Freemen (the women’s teams are called the Lady Freemen) are one of those Canadian teams that play in the USA’s lower divisions. That nickname has a nice, poetic grandeur to it, doesn’t it?

4. MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE ARCHERS

Location: Chicago, IL  

Major sports: basketball, soccer, volleyball 

Site: http://www.moody.edu/edu_mainpage.aspx?id=2060 

Comment: Archers is definitely a nickname that is next-level cool. It lends itself to all kinds of colorful imagery in print, the broadcast booth and in signs and posters made by the fans. And you can insert your own Anne Archer joke here.

3. LINCOLN CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY RED LIONS

Location: Lincoln, IL 

Major sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball 

Site: http://www.lincolnchristian.edu/athletics/ 

Comment: What a terrific name for sports teams and that logo is really cool as well! I’d love to strap on a helmet and go play for this school myself, except they don’t have a football team so I’d just wind up looking ridiculous. 

2. PIEDMONT BAPTIST COLLEGE CONQUERORS

Location: Winston-Salem, NC 

Major sports: basketball, soccer, volleyball 

Site: http://www.pbc.edu/Page.aspx?pid=285 

Comment: There’s no doubt about it, these Conquerors are even cooler than William the Conqueror, Kang the Conqueror and the hilariously bad John Wayne movie The Conqueror all put together.   

1. WILLIAMSON FREE SCHOOL MECHANICS

 Location: Media, PA 

Major sports: football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis 

Site: http://www.williamson.edu/athletics/index.htm 

Comment: ”Charles Bronson IS The Mechanic!” Okay, now that I have that out of my system we can all take time to appreciate the coolness that IS the nickname The Mechanics. I’m a sucker for really cool nicknames that also convey the spirit of the educational institution they’re affiliated with.   

MORE COOL STUFF

The 20 Coolest-Named JUCO Sports Teams: http://glitternight.com/2010/10/18/the-20-coolest-named-juco-sports-teams/

For Cool-Named Teams that weren’t on any Top 20 List click here: http://glitternight.com/classic-cool/

For the NCAA Division 3′s Coolest-Named Teams click here: http://glitternight.com/d3-20-coolest/      

 For the NAIA edition of The 20 Coolest College Sports Teams You May Never Have Heard Of click here: http://glitternight.com/2010/06/21/the-20-coolest-named-college-sports-teams-you-may-have-never-heard-of-naia-edition/ 

 For The 20 Coolest College Sports Logos click here: http://glitternight.com/2010/07/20/the-20-coolest-college-sports-logos/ 

 For The 20 Coolest Football Helmets In NCAA Division 3 click here: http://glitternight.com/2010/08/23/the-20-coolest-football-helmets-in-ncaa-division-3/    

 For the 20 Coolest-Named Sports Teams In NCAA Division 2 click here: http://glitternight.com/d2-20-coolest/  

 Balladeer’s Blog is not affiliated with or operated by the NAIA or the NCAA or any of their member institutions.   

 © Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.