For seemingly the last decade or so, the Athletics have tried to escape from Oakland (home of the infamous Oakland Coliseum, where the crowds are small and the foul territory is the size of the Titanic) and find their way to San Jose (BTW, the way is available on Google Maps). The Giants, who own the territorial rights to there, have basically told the Athletics to take a hike. And so, some have begun to wonder if the Athletics will move out of the Bay Area entirely… Selig has said that MLB would approve the move, depending on where it was (i.e. so long as it didn’t annoy any of the other 29 teams, like San Jose would the Giants).

Wherever the A’s end up though (Las Vegas? San Antonio? Charlotte? Mexico or Puerto Rico?), there is one thing that should happen: They should remain the Athletics. It is too old a name with too rich a history to be abandoned. The A’s nickname has been with that franchise since 1901, and dates back to previous clubs that go back all the way to 1860! Philadelphia, Kansas City or Oakland, they have remained the Athletics. Very few other names in sports have survived so two or more moves: the Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves (which, contrary to popular belief, was not derived directly from Native Americans, but rather on the notorious Tammany Hall political machine, which had used chiefs as a symbol. Not like that matters) are the only ones from the MLB.  The NFL has had the Oakland-LA Raiders (who don’t really count, since the second move was back to Oakland), the Chicago-St. Louis-Arizona Cardinals and the Cleveland-Los Angeles-St. Louis Rams. The NBA has had the New York-New Jersey-Brooklyn Nets, the Milwaukee-St. Louis-Atlanta Hawks and the Philadelphia-San Francisco-Golden State (i.e. Oakland) Warriors. The NHL hasn’t had one.

And, in honor of the long tradition, the Athletics should keep that name. No matter where they end up.Same for most of the other above teams.