The public has come up with some really dumb monikers before, but the good folks of Madison, Alabama did not make that mistake when they voted on a name for their new minor league baseball team. They were real guardians of the process, and came up with one of the best names in the galaxy. That’s why they will soon have the frickin’ honor of rooting for the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
In a story we came across at WHNT News 19, team owner BallCorps Inc. announced the final results of a three-month process for renaming the Mobile BayBears when they move to Madison, Alabama in 2020. “Trash Pandas” (which Guardians of the Galaxy fans will recognize as the much resented slur hurled at Rocket Raccoon in the second film) won with 44.75% of the final vote, beating out an incredible field that included “ThunderSharks” (19.25%), “Moon Possums” (12.6%), “Space Chimps” (12%), and “Comet Jockeys” (11.4%).
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Matthew Higley, the fan who nominated the name, said he wasn’t thinking about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when he suggested it. The term “trash panda” does predate the movie by at least a few years, but we’re not convinced it wasn’t on his mind since he wrote this on his submission form:
“Our community is known for engineering, and no creature in our galaxy is as smart, creative, determined and ingenious a problem solver – dedicated to the challenge at hand – as our local raccoons!”
No matter his true inspiration, it certainly seems like the voting public was thinking about the MCU’s foul-mouthed little hero, because they overwhelmingly elected to use Rocket City (the nickname of the Madison County- and Limestone County-based city of Huntsville) as the team’s identifier. It got 67.4% of the vote, beating North Alabama (18.1%) and Madison (14.5%), the actual city they will play in.
This is obviously an amazing name for a baseball team, but now we’re going to need some other cities to vote on new monikers for their teams so the Rocket City Trash Pandas can play the Knowhere Collectors, Asgardian Angel Pirates, and Titan Mad Snappers.
Which MCU character would be a great choice for a baseball team name? Step up to our comments section below and let us know.
Featured Image: Marvel
