What's In A Name?

What’s In a Name?

Sometimes the immature sixteen year old comes out in every one of us. It can’t be helped and can seldom be hidden as we try to hide our laughter at something completely amusing, such as the three hundred pounder in Wal-Mart that’s wearing spandex and a t-shirt the size of family room curtain that has the word “GUESS” on it. Of course you know you and your friends are chuckling at trying to guess the exact weight. Sometimes you’re not even sure of the gender in that store.

But today I’m thinking about funny names. I used to work for a large national brokerage company and some of the clients that called up had some interesting names. I still laugh at the name Bungard. I even once worked with a guy named Mike Oxbig. How can you not laugh at that?

But the world of sports has given us some gems over the years, names of athletes that we will never be able to forget even if we tried. Most of them never even came close to being at the top of their sport, but are forever etched in our memories because of an unfortunate name. One of the more recognizable names in previous years was NASCAR driver Dick Trickle. Seriously, you’re last name is Trickle. What the heck was your mother thinking when she picked out that name?

Another unfortunate name was NHL goalie Ron Tugnutt. I used to laugh my butt off every time the play by play guy would say his name. And you know damn well he said it as often as he could just because it’s funny. Any Florida State fans out there? Remember De’Cody Fagg? I nearly spilled my drink one time hearing the announcer say “Fagg got his hands on the ball.”

For you NFL fans out there, harken back to the days when the field was graced by such players as Harry Colon and Ben Gay.

Even teams can have over the top names. How about the Butte County High School Pirates…or Butte Pirates for short.

Baseball still has some of the best names for laughing at. Urban Shocker played pro baseball during the 1920’s. If you know anything about crude hand gestures then you’ll get that name. Pete LaCock was  a player for the Cubs. Dick Pole was a pitcher for the Red Sox. I wonder what kind of commentary was published about his batting record.

Any fans of the Olympics out there? Remember Misty Hyman, the swimmer? Gregor Fucka was a Slovenian basketball player. Interesting name, huh? How about B.J. Johnson…is he still with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Ah such funny names. I’ll leave you with two more…Dean Windass and Johnny Dickshot.

Hope you have a nice day. And remember, it’s okay to laugh at others!