Saturday, January 06, 2007

What The Heck Is A Zephyr?


The Mets have named Ken Oberkfell the new manager of their new AAA franchise, the New Orleans Zephyrs. What is a zephyr? A zephyr is kind of an obscure word meaning "a light breeze," and coincidentally my dad used to be on a softball team that named their team "The Zephyrs" as a joke. Why would a team name themselves that without irony?

Prior to 1985, and while the franchise operated out of Denver, the Zephyrs called themselves the Bears. Their current logo features a rodent, a coypu, representing their mascot who's named Boudreaux D. Nutria. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue like "Mr. Met," now does it? But back to the question at hand: Why did a baseball team named the Bears change it's name to Zephyrs, move to New Orleans, and adopt a muskrat-like animal for a mascot?

Wordnet says a Zephyr is the Greek God of the West Wind. Boy, nothing screams Creole heritage like Greek mythology.

This franchise is screwed up. I hope the Mets affiliation with the Zephyrs is short-lived.

By the way, Ken Oberkfell played 16 seasons as a major league player, mostly with the Cardinals, where he won a World Series in 1982. A lifetime .278 hitter, he was best known for his glovework. He asks that you please not confuse him with Ken Ober, former host of MTV's Remote Control.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Be nice to the Zephyrs. After Katrina destroyed New Orleans, and turned the Zephyrs stadium into a helicopter landing station and red cross base, the Zephyrs immediately promised New Orleans that they would be back. At the same time the NBA and NFL teams split town so quickly, only to return when everything was back to "normal." The Zephyrs are supposed to have a great fan base because of their loyalty now and they supposedly did a great job of supporting the nationals crappy triple A squad last year.

Mike V said...

Okay, I'll lay off.

Let's Get Some Z's!

Anonymous said...

HI
I AM FROM THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. THE WORD ZEPHYR IS DEFINED IN THE DICTIONARY AS A LIGHT WESTERLY BREEZE. HOWEVER IN THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS THE WORD ZEPHYR IS USED IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NAME OF THE BEAUTIFUL ROLLER COASTER THAT USED TO RESIDE AT THE LOCAL AMUSEMENT PARK, PONTCHARTRAIN BEACH. IN NEW ORLEANS THE WORD ZEPHYR MEANS A WILD RIDE.
THANKS

Mike V said...

Hey that makes a lot of sense! Thanks! It's good synergy, too, since the Mets A ball team, The Cyclones, is also named after a roller coaster.

Lets Go Mets!