Whatever you might think of the nickname for the York Revolution baseball team — and there were numerous opinions on that — everyone should be happy that we don’t live in the Lehigh Valley.
On Sunday, The (Allentown) Morning Call reported that the Triple-A baseball team that will play in east Allentown beginning in 2008 will be called the — wait for it — IronPigs.
Yes, IronPigs.
The selection was made with the help of a contest to submit potential names, an online vote and 10 focus groups. The other finalists weren’t so hot, either. They were:
--Crushers
--Gobblers
--Phantastics
--Phillies (The Lehigh Valley team will be the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate, in case you were wondering.)
--Vulcans (Vulcans?!?!)
--Keystones
--Woodchucks
And here are some nickname suggestions that — thank heavens — didn’t even make the final eight: Ring Bolognas, Fightin’ Scrapples and Funnel Cakes.
The justification for IronPigs, according to the Morning Call, is the Lehigh Valley’s rich steelmaking history. Steel is made from refined pig iron.
Team officials were putting on a brave face after the announcement. Team co-owner Joseph Finley told the Morning Call, “The Lehigh Valley voted on it and their opinion is kind of unanimous.�
Kind of, eh?
The team has hired one of the nation’s top sports marketing companies — Plan B Branding — to handle the marketing of the IronPigs.
Have fun, Plan B.
At least it wasn’t the Fightin’ Scrapples.
IronPigs? Cooooooooooooooool! I like that name! It's fun. Much better than naming a team something boring like the Washington Nationals.