Today’s the Day

Far be it from us to second-guess the philosophers who chose the name "Hush Puppies" as a finalist from among the thousands of suggestions for Richmond's new ball club that poured in to CNBC.

We certainly would not want to question the intelligence of the popinjays who rejected the scads of entries that actually made sense, such as the Generals or the Ravens. No doubt they had their reasons, and we are in no position to critique them.

After all, the team's executives -- evidently stunned that the original finalists (Flatheads, Flying Squirrels, Hambones, Rock Hoppers, and Rhinos) did not exactly elicit a chorus of praise -- allowed CNBC to conduct a contest. That gave CNBC the right to make its own selection.

We are sure the geniuses there could have done much worse.

Think how awful it would be to cheer on the Richmond Ingrown Toenails, for instance.

Imagine if they'd chosen a name from Anna Karenina. Try having a couple of beers and root, root, rooting for the Richmond Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskayas.

Heck, they might have gone with the name of a chemical compound. How about the Richmond Bis(3-Cyclopentadienyl)chlorohydrozirconiums?

Compared with monikers like that, the Hush Puppies is absolutely brilliant. And it just might win when the team announces its nickname today, on these premises. It may be too late to affect the outcome, but yesterday The Wall Street Journal reported that teams named for inanimate objects boast the best records. Teams named for birds lose more often than they win. Fans of the Orioles did not need to be told.