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When the U.S. takes on England this Saturday in the World Cup, it will arguably be at a disadvantage on talent, despite gifted players like Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore. But it will certainly be at a disadvantage when it comes to the team nicknames. England’s is the Three Lions, a nod to the country’s official Coat of Arms. In 1996, the team even adopted “Three Lions” as its official song. Instead, I’ll be pulling for USMNT, which, unfortunately, doesn’t stand for Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the altogether bland “Men’s National Team.”
Ghana has the Black Stars. Algeria will be pulling full their Desert Warriors. In Spain, they watch La Furia Roja. Even teams that didn’t make the World Cup this year outpace us in the nickname department: the Czech Republic’s Locomotive, Trinidad & Tobago’s Soco Warriors, Angola’s Black Impalas. Hell, I’d even settle for Benin’s Squirrels.
“Yanks” has been bandied about over the years, but that’s what others call us, not what we call ourselves (and us Southerners still think Yanks are the people who pretend they can drive in snow without salt on the roads). Stars & Stripes is the military’s newspaper (and a wrestling tag team). Nigeria’s players are the Super Eagles, trumping whatever we might do there—would you rather be “super” or “bald”?
There’s only one animal that makes sense to me. The largest land mammal in North America—the American Bison, or the buffalo. Tough and majestic. The most important creature to many of our land’s first human inhabitants. I’d pull for the Buffaloes. But I’d pull for them if they were the Chipmunks, the Jedi Knights or, like UC Santa Cruz, the Banana Slugs. Anything would be better than USMNT. Send me your suggestions in the comments below or @joshjackson. This team deserves a name.
Note: some suggestions that have come over the Twitter wire include The Colbert Crew, Chuck Norris and The Three Lion Killers.
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the replaceables
Others do call us "The Yanks" actually. Especially in Europe.
The Minutemen or the Regulators
It's the name of a DC United fan group, and I think it would work best if they started the petition to donate it so they don't feel like it's being stolen, but it should be "The Screaming Eagles."
Yes, Nigeria are also Eagles, but that bird belongs to us, dammit!
A screaming eagle is a little bit patriotic, a little bit "America, F--k YEAH", which sort of fits our national reputation around the world as arrogant a-holes, and also means that using the Team America song as our theme would still be in play. :)
What's not to like?
The One-And-Dones! It has a nice ring ...
Even though "Stars & Stripes" is sort of taken, I think I like that option the best. Bison isn't bad, though. What about other things that were uniquely American at one point in time (these are not name proposals, just springboards): the Constitution, the presidency, our revolution (compare it to the French Revolution: ours was earlier and we didn't guillotine the leadership every few years)... sorry I'm a historian by trade.
Would it be terribly Yankee-esque (and I'm speaking MLB Yankees here) to call our team "USoc" and pronounce it similar to "you suck"? Maybe if our nation was comprised solely of junior highers and vile Yankee/Red Sox types...
Or, since we're known for calling it soccer instead of football, could we be the "Socs" ... but change it to "Sox" (honoring another American tradition: baseball ... and butchering the Queen's English). We'd have to make sure nobody pronounced it "Sahks" like New Englanders do for the baseball team from Beantown.
The nickname for WW1 soldiers: the Doughboys. I can't draw any correlation to American soccer, but it's growing on me...
I know its a supporters group, but I think "Sam's Army" fits best. If not, "The Yanks" gets my vote.
I like the Bison. Buffalo sounds better, but there'd be the endless nattering about how Bison aren't actually buffalo, blah, blah.
Screaming Eagles has a bit of flair.
I think honoring the American bison is a fitting idea. They're large, gruff when need be, scrappy in the winters, and when fighting they keep they're heads down and just charge through. But overall, they're still a docile & domesticated species. I like the "Buffs." I mean, Colorado uses it, but the MNT could own it in their own way, too.
How about another (extinct) native... the Mammoth! It describes us so well, from our expansive geography to our ever-growing waistlines!
How about, "Big Brother" or "The Sentries" or "The Baby Sitters" or "Guardian Angels". In the WORLD scope of things, it is more appropriate.
I was born in Michigan. Yanks are North Easterners, I wouldn't offend the US team by calling them Yanks. ("Yanks" sounds terrible anyways)
Buffalo seems OK. But the blog website dedicated to the US soccer team, "American Outlaws," has a good idea.
I like the idea of calling the USMNT the "outlaws" not only cause it sounds kind of bad ass, but also because our nation was founded by outlaws, outlaws have an important place in the American history and psyche, i.e.: John Dillinger & Jesse James, and due to the fact that the US approaches "football" in a rebellious fashion, having not embraced it as the world's #1 sport and calling it soccer instead.
So "Yanks" would offend the players? Ridiculous.
How about "The Red, White & Blue"? Bison is good too. I just can't see naming them after criminals though. This is the National Team, not some bunch of punks trying to play at being "bad ass" in some rec league.
E Pluribus.
Heritage and culture and philosophy all there.
Minutemen is okay, but there's one colonial war group that had a sweet name.
How about "Sons of Liberty" and then "Sons" for short.
If not that, how about "13 Stripes" in regards to the 13 original colonies and the 13 stripes on our flag. "Stripes" for short.
Next we can talk team chants;
-"Glory, Glory Hallelujah, the Stripes/ or Sons are marching on!!!"
-"Over there, over there. Send the word, send the word over there. That the Stripes/ Sons are coming, the (insert cool new nickname here) are coming, we'll be goal scoring everywhere....
Thoughts?
"Roughnecks" could also work. Blue collar values, hard work, true grit!!!
Like many others I am a great fan of the U.S. National Soccer Team and am proud and overjoyed with the gritty performance of the team in making the clutch plays to keep in contention and to eventually win their group. This is truly a historic moment for U.S. soccer.
One of the disappointments that I have had is that the U.S. Team does not have a suitable nickname. The nickname: “Yanks” is often used as a disrespectful term overseas (something more universal and slightly less derisive than “Gringo”) and is not necessarily reflective of how we view ourselves as a nation (can you imagine fans in the South or New England embracing the term “Yanks”?). The nickname: “Star and Stripes” although reflective of our flag and similar in tradition to other teams being named after their national colors, it too syllabic to be used in shorthand (does anyone want the team to be referred to as “S&S” or “SS”?). Finally, the term “MNT” for Men’s National Team is hardly inspiring.
I propose that the Team officially adopt the nickname: “The Union.” It has a classy ring to it and is reflective of our national culture and what I believe is the U.S. team culture of the whole being greater than the sum of its individual players. The U.S. is the union of sovereign states in a federal system. Our national motto, “e pluribus unum,” is consistent with this notion. Although the term “Union” might connote “Union Jack,” there is no UK FIFA team. Additionally, although some from the South might not prefer the name, it would be more acceptable than “The Yanks.”
Other possibilities include the “Eagles,” the “Federals” (or “Feds”) and the “Amis.” The Eagles has already been adopted by the U.S. Rugby Team (been there, done that). The Feds is not as good as Union and, in any event, might connote law enforcement and would not be as well appreciated outside of the U.S. “Ami” is a shorthand version of “American” that is used in Germany and coincidentally means “friend” in French. It is short and lends itself to use in chants (Ami, Ami, Ami, Oy, Oy Oy?). Notwithstanding, I believe that “The Union” remains the best choice. Let’s give our U.S. Team a classy nickname it deserves.
Richard Giroux
The Comeback Kings, maybe.