Just for fun: Know your animals
It’s the Dog Days. Sirius is the dog star. Sirius and XM have completed their merger, and the combined company will be called…are you ready…Sirius XM. You have to wonder how many meetings it took to reach that decision.
But enough of that. The dog days of summer mean that pennant races are heating up. Cubs v. Brewers, Twins v. White Sox. Time for great players to play great. And speaking of players, I like sports nicknames. So let’s indulge ourselves in a little sports nickname quiz.
Use the Comments feature below to name as many of these athletes as you can. Look for the answers in about a week. (The names span several sports, and yes, in several cases there might be more than one right answer.)
1. Mad Stork
2. Snake
3. Rat
4. Mouse
5. Shark
6. Barcelona Bumblebee
7. Spider
8. Worm
9. Mad Dog
10. Crime Dog
11. Big Dog
12. Hawk
13. Moose
14. Goose
15. Bird
Jim (not a nickname, just mine)
Popularity: 10%
Comment by Erik on 5 August 2008:
3. Gary “the Rat” Gaetti
5. Greg “Shark” Norman
7. John “Spider” Salley ?
8. Dennis “the Worm”Rodman
9. Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen
10. Fred “Crime Dog” McGriff
11. Glen “Big Dog” Robinson
13. Daryl “Mooooooose” Johnston
14. “Goose” Gossage
15. I though there was a pitcher from some years back known as “Bird” but I can’t come up with the name, want to say Mark something…
Comment by Tech Guru on 5 August 2008:
@Erik: You’re thinking of Mark Fidrych.
@Jim: Actually the naming consideration for the Sirius XM merger was very well thought out. The primary concern is continuing support of existing SDARS. They are currently built with logo’d buttons (XM logo, Sirius dog). Changing the name would likely confuse those car owners. All older radios will continue to work, and will receive the new channels. So the logical choice for new company name was to keep both in order to alleviate confusion over whether those services still existed. I guess on the surface one would think no thought was put into this decision, but Mel Karmazin did say that they created a task force to consider the ramifications of changing both their company name and stock ticker.
Comment by Ski on 5 August 2008:
1. Ted “The Mad Stork” Hendricks
2. Jake “The Snake” Plummer
3. Harry “Rat” Westwick
4. Mike ”Mouse” McCoy
5. Jeff “The Shark” Samardzija
6. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario “The Barcelona Bumblebee”
7. Anderson “Spider” Silva
8. Dennis “The Worm” Rodman
9. Greg “Mad Dog” Maddux
10. Fred “Crime Dog” McGriff
11. Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson
12. Connie “The Hawk” Hawkins
13. Johan “Moose” Hedberg
14. Rich “Goose” Gossage
15. Mark “The Bird” Fidrych
Comment by Lars on 5 August 2008:
1. Mad Stork – Ted Hendricks
2. Snake – Kenny Stabler
3. Rat – Jeff Battisti or John “The Rat” Koski
4. Mouse – Guy Trottier
5. Shark – Greg Norman
6. Barcelona Bumblebee – Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
7. Spider – Anderson Silva
8. Worm – Dennis Rodman
9. Mad Dog – Dwight White
10. Crime Dog – Fred McGriff
11. Big Dog – Glenn Robinson
12. Hawk – Tony Hawk
13. Moose – Daryl Johnston
14. Goose – Rich Gossage
15. Bird – Larry Bird
Comment by Jim on 5 August 2008:
Tech Guru:
I think Sirius XM is an excellent choice. I can see how my comment would lead you to believe I was disparaging the new name. It’s the perfect choice for the reasons you mention. And both names have equity. Moreover, the combined entity will have plenty of integration challenges; no need to throw an expensive and distracting name change into the mix.
Comment by Jim on 7 August 2008:
Thanks to those who participated in this midsummer diversion. Here are the answers I had in mind:
- Ted “Mad Stork” Hendricks
- Ken “the Snake” Stabler
- Kenny “the Rat” Linsman — Flyers. Considered by some to be among dirtiest players of all time.
- Ken “Mouse” McFadden — remember the ’86 NCAA Men’s Hoops Tourny?
- Greg “the Shark” Norman
- Barcelona Bumblebee is Aranxta Sanchez Vicario
- Vladimir “Spider” Sabic
- Dennis “the Worm” Rodman
- Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen — Mad Dog Vachon, too
- Fred “Crime Dog” McGriff
- Glen “Big Dog” Robinson
- Andre “the Hawk” Dawson — Go Cubs!
- Bill “Moose” Skowron — Moose Haas, too
- Goose Gossage, of course
- Mark “the Bird” Fidrych, who was paid the MLB minimum $16,500 for his magical ’76 season