Death of the Nicknames

by Cory Lavalette on Aug 4, 2008 1:24 PM EDT

One of the minor details Bubba and I spoke about when we discussed me writing for Canes Country was my identity: Did I want to use my name, or would I rather come up with a pen name? The idea of having a nickname seemed fun, and it would surely protect me from all the scandalous things Bubba wants me to write (I kid).

I also had seen recent stories about Rich "Goose" Gossage’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Gossage has one of those nicknames that is probably more widely known than his real first name (and is also the proud owner of some of the best facial hair in sports history — still!).

It got me thinking about the great hockey nicknames of years gone by. Players like Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrian, Maurice "Rocket" Richard and Johnny "Chief" Bucyk, are all known more for their nicknames than their given names. Coaches and TV personalities got on the ledger in one shot with Don "Grapes" Cherry. And even a legendary nickname like Bobby "The Golden Jet" Hull found a second life with a younger generation — "The Golden" Brett Hull.

Hockey fans were also treated with some fantastic forward line combos: Buffalo’s Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert made up "The French Connection Line;" L.A.’s "Triple Crown Line" featured Dave Taylor, Charlie Simmer and Marcel Dionne. And in the 1990s, Eric Lindros played on two Flyers’ lines that sported fun nicknames: "The Legion of Doom" with John LeClair and Mikael Renberg, and "The Crazy Eights Line" with Mark Recchi and Brent Fedyk. Carolina even boasted a brief line sensation with "The BBC Line" of Rod Brind’Amour, Bates Battaglia and Erik Cole, with a primary assist to Mike Myers for his Austin Powers song that echoed through the then Entertainment & Sports Arena at play stoppages.

But in today’s media frenzy of non-stop television news, constantly updated sports Web sites and — yes — blogs, one thing that has disappeared from all of sports is the great nickname. If you peruse NHL rosters, you’re unlikely to find any nickname that truly rivals the great monikers of the past. Nicknames for prominent players like Sidney Crosby ("The Next One," "Sid The Kid") and Alexander Ovechkin ("A.O.," "Alexander The Gr8") are either too shorted-sighted or not dominant enough to move to the forefront. Too many are simply a variation of a player’s real name. J-S "Giggy" Giguere, "Jumbo" Joe Thornton, Mikka "Kipper" Kiprusoff or Paul "Goose" Gaustad are serviceable nicknames, but certainly not memorable. Even the few nicknames that have been tagged onto Carolina players, like Ray "The Wizard" Whitney and Niclas "The Secret Weapon" Wallin, are either just OK or tongue-in-cheek silly.

Yes, there are some good ones kicking around the NHL, my favorites being Johan "Moose" Hedberg, Johan "The Mule" Franzén and Nikolai "The Bulin Wall" Khabibulin. I’m sure there are a few more (and we’d love to hear your take), but it seems the days of the fun, memorable sports nickname are over.

So I guess we’re forced to live in a sports world of A-Rods, LT’s, Big Z’s and — forgive me — Man-Rams. Me? I’m going to stick with just Cory for now. But maybe I’ll give Goose a call about growing some of that dandy facial hair.

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NHL was the Norris Hockey League some time ago as another tongue and cheeker.

That said, Chicago looking scary this year or what?

BTW, since he did play for us and all an honorable mention to Mark Recchi “The Wrecking Ball”.

That is still one of my favorites.

by Paladin6 on Aug 4, 2008 3:14 PM EDT reply actions

Some former Whalers / ’Canes had some good ones;
the Little Ball of Hate
Boxcar Ed Hospadar
The Russian Tank
Ronnie Franchise (another play on the name, but true & a good one).
The Cat

The Buffalo Sabre’s radio announcer (Rick Jeanerette) used to give out some good ones;
Red Hot Russian
Mayday
Razor
on Christmas: Fa-la-la-la-la, la La Fontaine

The best one for Ranger fans;
The Messiah.

My personal favorite though was
Red-Light Racicot.

by marc on Aug 4, 2008 3:35 PM EDT reply actions

I like the ones you guys mentioned … but on a lot of them, I don’t picture their close friends calling them that, you know? For Messier, I like “Moose” better (and I can see teammates just being like, “Hey, Moose!”)

Even “The Great One” (a nickname EVERYONE knows) probably wasn’t just thrown around in the locker room (unless he was getting teased, I imagine … “Why don’t you ask The Great One?” … lol). It’s sad that it’s a dying breed in all sports (if I have to hear one more mashed up first and last name, I might kill J-Lo myself).

by Cory on Aug 4, 2008 4:17 PM EDT reply actions

I definitely disagree that it is a dying breed inside of locker rooms. Every NHL player has a locker room / on ice / on the plane nickname. Maybe it’s not as public as it used to be, but it has not disappeared.

by repenttokyo on Aug 4, 2008 5:48 PM EDT reply actions

“The Little Ball of Hate” was one of my favorites. It just summed up Pat Verbeek perfectly. Another classic is “The Finnish Flash,” Teemu Selanne.

I remember watching a Hurricanes game on VS. last season. John Vanbiesbrouck was doing commentary, and he mentioned that Ray Whitney’s nickname was “Kazoo,” which I had never heard before. What’s up with that?

by John on Aug 4, 2008 6:27 PM EDT reply actions

Yea, and Wrecks/Rec’s has been that before many here were born. Cam Ward usually is called Wardo or Wards, as he matures Wardo The great or the Wardo Wall may be the deal. I think there was a lull, like Serg Federov has no nickname per se, but he was arguably the AO, Sid of his day. Peter Forsberg probably wouldn’t like Club Foot or maybe Adam Foote would be pisse…

Run down the list, but several players after the Gretz, Mess, etc. didn’t bother with a nick name. Many still have them and use them and I look to see them used often. Hossa the Hose Monster comes to mind…

Martin St, Pu-lease

Why didn’t Stevens of the Devils get one? I could of given a few suggestions…

Oly The Goalie will never float…

Nabukov just sucks to ryhme with.

Satan, well, pronounce it how you want, but, it sorta speaks volumes.

Then there’s Sundin, “Sundin-ly rich as Hell”, “Couldn’t make a Sundin choice”, “Mats who?”

Then Staaly may just be that, maybe his numbers make that a great nick name.

His brother is called the Gronk, maybe that comes to be cool.

The “Irby says no”, thing was cool until he didn’t say no as often as we would like.

I dunno, gimme a bottle of Macallan 12yr old and I think I could drown you in names and sayings.

I agree it’s alive and well, just with twice as many players, you don’t have a half dozen that really are a step above, the league has parity and Wreck’s is a dinosaur, like Chelly. Chelios may not have a nick name we all know, but I hear the dude that babysits the cup is scared of Chelly, that says something….

by Paladin6 on Aug 4, 2008 6:27 PM EDT reply actions

Interesting topic… I also liked the “Wreckin ball”, that used to fit Recchi well.

by Bubba on Aug 4, 2008 6:39 PM EDT reply actions

No doubt, just about every player in the NHL has a nickname “Staalsy, Colesy, Stiller, ect. ect.” … I was talking more about colorful nicknames. Like I said in the entry, A-Rod is a well known nickname for Alex Rodriguez … that doesn’t mean it’s not ultra lame ;)

But Chief and Rocket … those are brilliant. I wouldn’t be surprised if their grandkids called them that!

by Cory on Aug 4, 2008 8:56 PM EDT reply actions

Anyone in any sport whose last name is Campbell is going to be called Soupy.

Oh, and I just learned that Marek Malik is called “Harry” because he (supposedly) looks like the creature from Harry and the Hendersons. I think it should have been “Boris” after Karloff’s Frankenstein’s monster, but whatever.

by John on Aug 4, 2008 11:33 PM EDT reply actions

How can we forget the great nickname of “Chicken Parm” for Ray Ferraro. I agree with Cory, though, the art of nicknames is no longer what it once was. There is nothing original to these nicknames. For those that know me (and Cory does), my name is Adam but I have a nickname (sticker) that has nothing to do with my actual name, it was original. Igor Larionov’s “The Professor” is also a great one but no one currently has that original nickname. As long as we don’t ask Chris Berman for help, I’ll be OK.

by Adam on Aug 9, 2008 4:15 PM EDT reply actions