Rock You Like A Hurricane

Quick question: what's the name of the University of Miami football team? Or for that matter, any varsity team at that school?

That's right, the Hurricanes. The Miami Hurricanes.

Now, teams with Native American-themed names like the Cleveland Indians get bashed all the time for being insensitive, politcally incorrect, etc.... There are people who think teams like the Indians, Braves, and Seminoles should change their names and remove stereotypical images from their uniforms. Yet nobody seems to have a problem with a team name that celebrates its hometown's worst feature.

You might point out that there are other teams named for dangerous natural occurrences, like the Colorado Avalanche or Tampa Bay Lightning (or perhaps in Steve Irwin's case, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays). But these are on a much less serious scale than hurricanes in Miami.

If you look up Miami, Florida on wikipedia, you'll find this interesting bit of information:

"Due to its location between two major bodies of water known for tropical activity, Miami is...statistically the most likely major city in the world to be struck by a hurricane..."

Also, you find out that before Katrina came along in 2005, Hurricane Andrew (which devastated Miami in '92) was the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

This is what you want your team named after? I know there are the NHL Carolina Hurricanes, but c'mon, when was the last time Raleigh was wiped out by one?

It is fun, though, to imagine what it'd be like if other cities went this route. We might have teams like the San Francisco Quake, the Detroit Riot, the New Orleans Flood, the L.A. Smog, the Providence Corruption, the New York Sewer Gators...(I could go on forever)

Apologies for using so many singular team names...I know they suck and only belong in Major League Soccer. Also, apologies if I subconsciously used any team names from BaseKetBall.