Plenty, for teams taking part in the various softball leagues

By Raju Woodward
Gazette-Times Reporter

Take a quick glance at the list of softball teams participating in the Corvallis City League this summer and you’ll likely chuckle or laugh out loud a few times. After all, names such as Pork Chop Express or Mood Swingers will do that to you.

While many teams simply go with their sponsor’s name, there are plenty of others that take a more creative approach to naming themselves. Such is the case with the Ichthyosluggers.

Four years ago, graduate students in the Fisheries and Wildlife program at Oregon State formed a team. After going through several name changes during the early going, the players settled on Ichthyosluggers.

And they couldn’t have picked a more appropriate name. Ichthyo means “fish” and most of them are involved with ichthyology, which is the study of fish. Team manager Randy Colvin said the name has become a hit with fans.

“It’s different for sure,” Colvin said with a laugh. “We get questions about our name often, even while we are playing, and people have come up with some good cheers for us.”

Adding to the popularity factor is the unusual logo the team devised to match its unusual name. “Ichthyosluggers” has been put together in the shape of a fish and is proudly splashed across the front of the players’ shirts.

Yet, it took a while for the league to get the spelling of the team correct. Try two years to be exact, but there are no hard feelings. In fact, Colvin understands the team probably brought it on itself by picking such a complex name.

“It’s funny that we got all scientific with our name,” Colvin said. “But we are basically a bunch of nerds when it comes down to it.”

While the Mood Swingers probably don’t have to worry about anyone spelling their name right like the Ichthyosluggers do, their name fits them well, too.

“All I can say about it, is sometimes we feel like winning, sometimes we don’t,” said Mood Swingers manager Darren Cervantes.

After going undefeated last season in their league, the Mood Swingers were moved up a division. So far, they have experienced mixed results and were sitting at .500 as of Monday.

Team member Justin Roach came up with the name two springs ago. The team had been struggling to pick a name and the registration deadline was quickly approaching. So he threw his idea out there.

“We went through a bunch of names and weren’t coming close to picking one,” Roach explained. “The deadline is really what forced us to pick one, but everyone seemed to like Mood Swingers because it’s a play on words.”

And of course, some names such as Pork Chop Express emerge out of complete randomness.

“I was watching the movie, ‘Big Trouble in Little China,’ and I thought it would be pretty funny for a softball team name,” said Pork Chop Express manager David Ritter. “I brought it up with the rest of the guys and some of them thought it would be funny too, some didn’t know what I was talking about.

Pork Chop Express is the name of actor Kurt Russell’s character’s long-haul truck in the 1986 movie “Big Trouble in Little China.”

Considering the long, difficult process the members of the Mood Swingers endured though, it’s obvious that a lot goes into picking a team name, even when it comes to laidback city league softball.

“I think it’s very important,” Colvin said. “It really helps bring out the camaraderie that’s associated with city league softball. The more unique the name is the more teams can do in terms of chants and uniforms.”

And at the very least, it’ll generate a lot of laughs.