Sports Nicknames

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10/22/2010 2:55 am

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There are some great nicknames out there in the world of sports. We should come up with a list/ranking.

Here are some of my favorites off the top of my head:

1. Kung Fu Panda (Pablo Sandoval)
2. Big Puma (Lance Berkman)
3. Matty Ice (Matt Ryan)

I could think of more, but I'm opening it up to the nutcan readership. Throw out some of your favorites (Current players only). After we have a bunch, maybe I'll organize some sort of vote/tournament.

Since it's my blog, I'll throw out some guidelines.

1. It should be a well-established nickname, not something you made up, or a niche nickname. We can always discuss those later if needed. Basically, if it hasn't made Sportscenter, it probably doesn't fit. I don't care how many of your Twitter friends call A.J. Pierzynski "Senior Cranky Pants," it doesn't belong on this list.

2. Keep it clean. Guideline #1 should probably take care of this, but I'll put it out there so there's no gray area.

3. As I said, current players only. So, you don't have to worry about "Big Unit" passing guideline #2, in case you were wondering.

Other than that, let the fun begin!

	Scott - 6225 Posts 10/22/2010 @ 07:25:55 AM
Here's one! Drew Beldsoe much he needed a transfusion? The Freak (Jevon Kearse) T.J Freaky Freak (Tim Lincecum, according to the ESPN commercial) "Brett" Favre; his real name is Steve.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - I believe virtually everything I read. 10/22/2010 @ 12:08:20 PM
See, this has already gone off the rails because I'm not even sure Big Puma is Berkman's best nickname. (Fat Elvis)		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	RUFiO1984 - 219 Posts 10/22/2010 @ 12:13:36 PM
Megatron (Calvin Johnson) CJ2K (Chris Johnson) think I have heard that on sports center!? I also really like Kung Fu Panda, fans actually dress as pandas in the stands.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9591 Posts 10/22/2010 @ 12:35:49 PM
Superfreak - Moss All Day - Adrian Peterson Baby Jesus - Joe Mauer		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Sarah - So's your face 10/22/2010 @ 04:06:56 PM
Jeremy Wrote - Today @ 12:35:49 PM Baby Jesus - Joe Mauer I believe it's Baby Joesus. Or Man-Muscles.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 10/22/2010 @ 06:08:32 PM
Isn't Mauer "The Natural"? Francisco Cordero - Coco Scott Podsednik - Podzilla Jeff Suppan - Soup I'll find more when I have time.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 10/22/2010 @ 09:14:25 PM
The Minister of Defense - Reggie White El Presidente - Pedro Martinez The Answer - Alan Iverson King James - Lebron James The Franchise - Tim Lincecum The Hebrew Hammer - Ryan Braun The Mayor - Sean Casey Carlos Lee - El Caballo Sidney Crosby - The Next One		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - I hate our freedoms 10/22/2010 @ 09:25:45 PM
El Caballo is nicknamed "Carlos Lee"? I don't get it.		Rate this comment Yours: Total: Rated 1 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 10/22/2010 @ 09:28:02 PM
Yup. Weird, isn't it.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Alex - Ignorance is bliss to those uneducated 10/22/2010 @ 11:42:47 PM
Scott Wrote - Today @ 06:08:32 PM Jeff Suppan - Soup Jeff Suppan - That @#$@$!#$ Scott Wrote - Today @ 09:14:25 PM The Minister of Defense - Reggie White Not a current player, didn't your grade school teacher ever tell you to read directions? Scott Wrote - Today @ 09:14:25 PM The Answer - Alan Iverson Really?! It's Allen Iverson. Scott Wrote - Today @ 09:14:25 PM The Franchise - Tim Lincecum Aren't there like 50 guys with that nickname? I don't think that really counts. Actually wikipedia lists 7 (not counting the rapper). Looks like Tom Seaver was the original, although I bet Steve Francis is the best well known currently. Liriano, ha. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Franchise_%28disambiguation%29 Young Money - Brandon Jennings Mo - Mariano Rivera (yay for Texas!) Flash - Dwayne Wade Black Mamba - Kobe Byrant I think it meets guideline #1, but he did give it to himself so that's kind of weird. I don't want to break rule #2 so I'll just say that the nickname listed on wikipedia for Donald Driver wasn't what I was expecting to find http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Driver Although I'm not sure Double D is much better in that regard. Moving on... Gooch - Oguchi Onyewu Also random Scrubs shout out for the Gooch		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3490 Posts 10/23/2010 @ 03:21:23 AM
I'll throw out a few more. The Big Fundamental - Tim Duncan. Kind of a boring nickname, but that's why it's great. It fits. Except for the free throw shooting. Speaking of free throws, I feel like Shaq's nicknames almost need their own category. I think the best might be the simplist. Diesel. Also, I think The Big Aristotle is probably the best/most used of his more ridiculous self-imposed nicknames. As for other players, here's one I don't like, but a lot of people do: Durantula - Kevin Durant Also, I'm throwing this out there, even though I have mixed feelings: Big Papi - David Ortiz. It has staying power.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Micah - I'm flippin' burgers / you at Kinko's straight flippin' copies 10/23/2010 @ 08:02:23 AM
Since Rule #3 has been thrown out the window, my favorite has always been Baby Jordan....poor Harold Miner		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9591 Posts 10/23/2010 @ 10:33:59 AM
I've never once heard or seen anyone call Liriano "The Franchise"		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - Resident Tech Support 10/23/2010 @ 10:36:30 AM
Fine, Tim Lincecum is the Freaky Franchise.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Sarah - So's your face 10/23/2010 @ 11:47:00 AM
Jeremy Wrote - Today @ 10:33:59 AM I've never once heard or seen anyone call Liriano "The Franchise" Yeah, that's ridiculous. On a side note, I saw Mike "RedDog" "Smell'em" Redmond save "THE Franchise" in St. Louis after Liriano made an errant throw before a game. Oh Joe.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3490 Posts 10/23/2010 @ 04:22:27 PM
Micah Wrote - Today @ 08:02:23 AM Since Rule #3 has been thrown out the window... It was disregarded by some, but I'm holding fast to that one for the moment. The more I try thinking of nicknames on my own, the more I realize how many great nicknames are from former players, even recently retired players. Which is actually why we need to stick to current players. We can't handle the huge scope of all-time nicknames.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - You're going to have to call your hardware guy. It's not a software issue. 10/23/2010 @ 04:24:53 PM
I wasn't thinking of Rule #3 when I came up with Reggie White. It just came to me and I wrote it down. My bad. I'll stick to the script from now on.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - 3984 Posts 10/24/2010 @ 02:16:14 AM
Sarah Wrote - Yesterday @ 11:47:00 AM Jeremy Wrote - Yesterday @ 10:33:59 AM I've never once heard or seen anyone call Liriano "The Franchise" Yeah, that's ridiculous. Really? I've seen him called that quite a few times. http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=liriano+%22the+franchise%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=liriano+%22the+franchise%22&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=499faa430ac3503f		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - You're going to have to call your hardware guy. It's not a software issue. 10/25/2010 @ 07:57:17 PM
Carnell Lamar "Cadillac" Williams Adam Pac Man Jones Alexander Ovechkin - Alexander the Great The first two here bring up an interesting question. Does it count for the purposes of this poll if the person goes almost 100% by his nickname? I mean, he isn't Carnell the Cadillac Williams. Most people probably don't even know his first name.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Scott edited this at 10/25/2010 8:01:41 pm

	Jon - 3490 Posts 10/27/2010 @ 04:05:13 AM
Scott Wrote - 10/25/2010 @ 07:57:17 PM Carnell Lamar "Cadillac" Williams Adam Pac Man Jones Alexander Ovechkin - Alexander the Great The first two here bring up an interesting question. Does it count for the purposes of this poll if the person goes almost 100% by his nickname? I mean, he isn't Carnell the Cadillac Williams. Most people probably don't even know his first name. I never put it on here, but I had thought about that issue. For me, the people whose nicknames are what they almost always go by maybe aren't really what the spirit of the list is about. However, I was thinking of these to be more along the lines of Tiger Woods. Or Coco Crisp. To me, Cadillac Williams is still more of a nickname than his name. Pacman less so. Then again, I don't know if I'd want to discount these completely. If we were doing an all-time list, I'd have a hard time not including Magic Johnson, even though it's easily more his name than his actual name. In fact, I'd probably say it's one of the best all-time nicknames. So, to me, it's kind of a case by case thing. The fact that is has become someone's name probably makes the nickname better in some ways and not as good in others. You just have to take it all into account. By the way, I think I'm going to start an All-time nicknames list in a word document on my computer because I can't help but think of a ton of great ones (no pun intended) but I don't want to muddy this list with all of them right now. But I encourage everyone else to keep track of them too and we can post them later.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jon edited this at 10/27/2010 4:06:50 am

	Jon - infinity + 1 posts 10/27/2010 @ 04:10:24 AM
Jon Wrote - Today @ 04:05:13 AM By the way, I think I'm going to start an All-time nicknames list in a word document on my computer Ahh...I'm two minutes in and overwhelmed. So many nicknames! I'm gonna focus on current players and then just write down the ones of old timers I might otherwise forget. We'll probably have to break down the all-time lists by sport, and possibly by era, for it to be manageable at all. But that's for a later date.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jon perfected this at 10/27/2010 4:10:43 am

	Matt - Washington Bureau Chief 10/27/2010 @ 05:09:52 AM
I don't want to jump the gun here, but I'll just say that for all-time nicknames I don't think any era can beat the early days of baseball. For instance, "Death to Flying Things", a nickname held by not one, but two players from the very early days of baseball (Jack Chapman and Bob Ferguson).		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt screwed with this 2 times, last at 10/27/2010 5:11:04 am

	Jeremy - I hate our freedoms 10/27/2010 @ 10:54:21 AM
Matt Wrote - 10/24/2010 @ 02:16:14 AM Sarah Wrote - 10/23/2010 @ 11:47:00 AM Jeremy Wrote - 10/23/2010 @ 10:33:59 AM I've never once heard or seen anyone call Liriano "The Franchise" Yeah, that's ridiculous. Really? I've seen him called that quite a few times. http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=liriano+%22the+franchise%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=liriano+%22the+franchise%22&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=499faa430ac3503f 7,000 results is incredibly weak. You get about half that googling 'Lindgren "the franchise"' and no one has called me that. (Though I think I might insist on it.) Liriano's nickname is Frankie, generally written with a variable number of Ks while he's pitching. Scott Wrote - 10/25/2010 @ 07:57:17 PM Carnell Lamar "Cadillac" Williams Adam Pac Man Jones Alexander Ovechkin - Alexander the Great The first two here bring up an interesting question. Does it count for the purposes of this poll if the person goes almost 100% by his nickname? I mean, he isn't Carnell the Cadillac Williams. Most people probably don't even know his first name. Because of this post a Cadillac Auction site started following us on twitter.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - No, I did not change your screen saver settings 10/27/2010 @ 03:53:07 PM
Do they pay you royalties? If so, that's my contribution. If not, I'll just keep providing witty analysis and commentary free of charge.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - 3984 Posts 10/27/2010 @ 04:58:28 PM
Jeremy Wrote - Today @ 10:54:21 AM Matt Wrote - 10/24/2010 @ 02:16:14 AM Sarah Wrote - 10/23/2010 @ 11:47:00 AM Jeremy Wrote - 10/23/2010 @ 10:33:59 AM I've never once heard or seen anyone call Liriano "The Franchise" Yeah, that's ridiculous. Really? I've seen him called that quite a few times. http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=liriano+%22the+franchise%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=liriano+%22the+franchise%22&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=499faa430ac3503f 7,000 results is incredibly weak. You get about half that googling 'Lindgren "the franchise"' and no one has called me that. (Though I think I might insist on it.) Liriano's nickname is Frankie, generally written with a variable number of Ks while he's pitching. It's the quality not the quantity. The first result is that of the Twins beat writer for the Star-Tribune followed by other national sources and some prominent Twins blogs. It may not be widely known, but its the closest he has to an actual nickname. I guess you two just aren't as well informed a Twins fan as I am. And Frankie is not a nickname, its a shortened version of his actual name (granted it's a little more nicknamey than calling me Matt is in my case, but not much, and if you open that up, then the list would be endless).		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Sarah - How do you use these things? 10/27/2010 @ 05:57:44 PM
FranKKKKKKKKKKie! (Imagine some of these backwards)		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - Ombudsman 10/27/2010 @ 05:59:12 PM
That's racist.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt messed with this at 10/27/2010 5:59:44 pm

	Jeremy - 9591 Posts 10/27/2010 @ 06:05:26 PM
Well, I think a defining characteristic of a nickname is "do people actually call them that." I never made any claim that no one ever on earth had called him "The Franchise," but a couple people calling him something, even "official people," does not a nickname make. Especially since in this case they're all mostly references to what he may or may not have actually been called by someone in 2006. I imagine someone somewhere has called him "The Dominican Dominator" that doesn't make it a "real" nickname. I also never claimed Frankie was a worthy-of-this-list nickname, only that that's what his is.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy screwed with this at 10/27/2010 6:09:18 pm

	Matt - Ombudsman 10/27/2010 @ 06:11:22 PM
And I'm saying that if Liriano has a nickname, then "The Franchise" would be what it is. Jeremy Wrote - Today @ 06:05:26 PM I also never claimed Frankie was a worthy-of-this-list nickname, only that that's what his is. And I'm saying that's not a nickname, worthy-of-this-list or not.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - Ma'am, can you make sure your computer is turned on? 10/28/2010 @ 02:43:12 PM
Wait, so is a modification of your original name not an official nickname? Hank Aaron's real name was Henry. But to some or most he went by Hank. I suppose for the purpose of this list it should not be considered a nickname, but is it different than just a shortened version of a name. Chris from Christopher is not that same as Jimmy from James. What about Scotty from Scott?		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - Always thinking of, but never about, the children. 10/28/2010 @ 03:45:52 PM
Right. Matt from Matthew is not a nickname. Matty would be, albeit a rather uncreative one. Though it's definitely not a totally black and white area because of the Charles/Charlie/Chucks and the Richard/Dicks of the world. Jem is the official way of shortening Jeremy, but is used so infrequently one could probably call that a nick name.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Sarah - 4711 Posts 10/28/2010 @ 05:38:11 PM
Jeremy Wrote - Today @ 03:45:52 PM Right. Matt from Matthew is not a nickname. Matty would be, albeit a rather uncreative one. Matty G! And for NutCan purposes: Matty G P!		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 11/03/2010 @ 11:11:31 AM
Clay "The Claymaker" Matthews		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.