Generally teams opt for monikers that menace — large carnivores are always safe bets — or evoke a location (Major League Baseball’s extinct Washington Senators, the Tennessee Volunteers). The brainiacs at MIT chose to play up the school’s nerdiness, a tactic unlikely to strike fear in opponents’ hearts. Unless, of course, they stop to think that the starting salary for an MIT engineering graduate far outstrips those of most of the sports marketing majors populating Division I teams.
Top 10 Worst Team Names
North Dakota's Board of Higher Education voted May 14 to retire the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo after a lengthy dispute over whether or not the name was derogatory towards Native Americans. In honor of the name change, TIME examines ten other schools that might consider similar rebrandings.
The MIT Engineers
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