So, here’s something nobody’s talking about regarding the CGS: franchise names.
coL and 3D have already been drafted into the league as the Los Angeles and New York franchises, so I’m going to use them as examples. Call me crazy, but “The Los Angeles Complexity” and “The New York Desire, Discipline, Dedication” just don’t sound good. The Dallas Pandemic? Charlotte Forbidden? Same thing.
I’m honestly curious to see what their official titles are going to be. There’s a good psychological reason for putting the city names in: it helps fans identify with the team and it makes a team “theirs”. It’s why Barry Bonds stills gets cheered in San Francisco, and why he gets booed in New York even while they’re cheering for Guillermo Mota, a guy who was caught using steroids and admitted he did it. And it’s why baseball ended up with “The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim”, a name so ugly and bulky that the only thing powerful enough to create it is money.
Basically, a fan in LA is more likely to listen to a segment featuring the Los Angeles X instead of the California X. And a hybrid like “the compLexity of Los Angeles” is just too lame. Nobody in eSports, a place of 1337, n00b, and unicorn (a random swear-filter replacement on the CAL forums) could get behind a name like that.
Really, the problem is “3D” and “coL” are already franchise names, and just sticking a city in front of them doesn’t work. We need something else, something creative. If you like bad puns and weak jokes, breathe easy. I’m on the case.
My first suggestion, one I’m dead set on, is NY3D. It rolls off your tongue, it’s got all the information you need to know, and it’s a shout-out to the NYPD/NYFD. And, if you take 1337 into account, it could even stand for NYed. As in, you got New York-ed – I’ve seen worse trends on the forums. Really, what else could you ask for? It’s short, to the point, and it’s got meanings coming out the wazoo. That’s why, even if the CGS doesn’t adopt the franchise name, it’s going to be their official name on LANDodger until the end of time. Or, until the CGS disbands, whichever comes first.
coL is a little stickier. There isn’t an easy solution here. compLexity is pretty long, especially with Los Angeles attached. compLAxity isn’t good, even if it sounds like something Professor Frink (the Simpsons scientist) would say. The “LA” gets run over as part of the word, and to be honest, it also sounds like a medical problem you might see a proctologist for. I also though, briefly, of Compton-Lexity. Even though they’d have a natural rivalry with the NY3D, I don’t think that’s the kind of organizational branding they were hoping for. (And it certainly doesn’t represent them as a team; their players are never in trouble and never publicly run their mouths.)
The best I could come up with: coL Angeles, or coLAngeles. It doesn’t quite have the same ring, but I think the team/city emphasis is pretty good, and it’s not too much of a chore to say. If you’ve got a better idea for their franchise name, send it in, and I’ll use that instead.
Until then, it’s coLAngeles, NY3D, and four franchises without a dorky LANDodger name … yet.
