It's a cold day in Myrtle Beach. Because yesterday the NBA stole their minor league baseball team's actually badass bird name. And the Myrtle Beach Pelicans are unamused, according to this maybe sardonic statement
Inspired by the mind-numbing creativity shown by the NBA's New Orleans franchise in recently announcing a surprise and out-of-left field (pun intended) name change from Hornets to pelicans, Minor League Baseball's Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Pelicans… are asking their fans to consider a sweeping re-branding and promotional effort, effective for the 2013 Carolina League season.
The re-branding and promotional plan would not only pay homage to everything New Orleans, but would provide Minor League Baseball fans from the Grand Strand an opportunity not extended to basketball fans in Louisiana — participating in selecting the team's new nickname. Using the same level of out-of-the-box thinking used by the Hornets, nickname choices have been narrowed to Saints, Hornets, Jazz, Bayou Bengals, Ragin' Cajuns and Voodoo, along with any other current or former sports nickname the club could poach from the Bayou State.
It goes on to suggest other changes to the team, like offering a "Superdome" deal for bald-headed men, inviting James Carville to be its radio announcer, and renaming its restrooms to the "French Quarter." To which we say: well played. But to which we also say, with a bit of a head bobble: Didn't the South Carolina state bird stop being the mockingbird in 1948?
The NBA, obviously, doesn't care. But it was actually MLB's own website that had the harshest thing to say about the Texas Rangers affiliate's hilarious press release: "This is probably the biggest thing to hit Minor League Baseball in Myrtle Beach since Kenny Powers."
But that's not even close to as good of a burn, since Kenny Powers only arrived at the Myrtle Beach Mermen last season.