The Grand Junction ‘Humpback Chubs’?
A petition's circulating to change the 'Rockies' to the Grand Junction 'Humpback Chubs.'
The GJ Rockies got wind of the petition and informed fans that the team has no interest in changing its name. The team tweeted "The GJ Rockies are not considering changing their name and never have. We are owned by a group led by the Colorado Rockies and having a team on the west slope helps build their brand. Suggesting we would be called the GJ 'Chubs' is offensive and a slang sexual term for an erection." That response had Twitter buzzing! By yesterday, the GJ Rockies tweet had nearly 1,000 likes and nearly 500 retweets before being taken down.
Fruita resident, Ian Lummis was the guy behind the petition to change the team's name. I get that the Humpback Chub is a federally protected fish native to the Colorado River, but there's nothing cool about this fish outside of that fact. It looks like a deformed catfish. If locals are interested in changing the team's name, how about something like....the area's known for its wine production, how about "The Wineos"? Perhaps something "peach" related? Or "Gunnie's" for the Gunnison River? Mountain bike related? I don't know but "Humpback Chubs", really?
One of the coolest minor-league baseball team names that I've been around was for a baseball team I did some radio promotion with while working in Wichita, Kansas. The "Wichita Wingnuts"! The name was a "tip of the hat" so to speak towards the local aviation industry. The logo was awesome too. It was an angry baseball guy with a wingnut for a hat. I still have one of their hats and I wear it around quite a bit cause the logo is so cool.
Credit: KKCO11News