Let the voting begin!

After much discussion, we took the most-often suggested nicknames for our club and we’re ready for your votes. We attached parenthetical additions to two of the items to help clarify any confusion.

Some extra explanations:

— Bolts: as in the lightning in our logo and the hardware.

–Blitzkrieg: German for “lightning war”; battle tactic

— Blitzers: See above. Also, Buffalo-native and CNN broadcaster Wolf Blitzer

— (Blue) Collars: blue-collar workers; Buffalo made its bones as a factory/mill region.

— Expos: Buffalo hosted the 1901 Pan-American Exposition and World’s Fair.

— Rust: Self-explanatory. As Neil Young sang, “Rust never sleeps.”

— Spokes: named after way Buffalo’s streets were set-up. Lightning bolts in logo also resemble spokes.

Winners, email: nick@fcbuffalo.org . Voting ends Saturday, then the nine of us will meet to make it official. Now, please go back to SHOPPING! We love your support!

43 Responses
  1. Chris

    Why not just stick with “FC Buffalo” and let a nickname develop organically? (In other words, none of the above).

  2. Michael Schieber

    I feel sorta cheated because someone else said Blitzers after i posted Blitzkrieg.

    I mean how close is that?! especially when its posted after mine……

    anyways thanks too nick ryan and scott for choosing mine as a option.

    Please vote for Blitzkrieg everyone. you can call the team the Blitzers when referring to them still

    How cool would the word Blitzkrieg look across a scarf? Better yet it has a built in goal song with “Blitzkrieg Bop”. Imagine the fans singing “Aye Oh, Let’s Go! Aye Oh, Let’s Go! Aye Oh, Let’s Go! after a Blitzkrieg goal….

    Hard to argue with that i say….

  3. Nick

    Well, we’re still just FC Buffalo. We won’t be billing ourselves as FC Buffalo (nickname) here, per se. It’s more how Chelsea are the Blues and Newcastle United are the Magpies and Stoke City are the Potters. It’s known, but rarely used together, unlike Blackburn Rovers or Bolton Wanderers.

    Also, as a journalist, I want to give the writers something to work with. I can’t imagine typing FC Buffalo every time I wanted to refer to a team.

  4. Michael Schieber

    don’t you think Blitzers and Blitzkrieg are too similar to be different choices? like if the team was FC Buffalo Blitzkrieg, couldn’t you assume some people would call them the Blitzers? Like some people shorten Cardnials to Cards?

  5. Spokes sounds good to me. Well cause I came up with it, but as UnionAMG said, has the EPL ring to it. Reminds me of the Hammers or Gunners.

  6. Michael Schieber

    Good luck Brandon! Congrats on getting picked. I liked mine (Blitzkrieg), yours (Spokes) and Rust the best

  7. Alex

    i don’t mean to be incredibly pedantic, but i am having trouble not. being polish, i really can’t see rooting/wearing a scarf for a team nicknamed the blitzkrieg. maybe i am the only one who blitzkrieg brings up negative connotations to. i just feel like i should bring up my reservations on this particular name. as somebody who is a little too interested in history, i am probably just being anal and way too up tight. i just thought it was worth a mention.

  8. CazCrik

    +1 with Alex. Blame Goering and Rommel for ruining an awesome nickname for eternity. I’m stuck between the Bolts and Spokes.

  9. Justin

    Blitzkrieg? Are you kidding me? A Nazi reference for a nickname? That is the worst idea I have ever heard.
    Gotta go with the Bolts.

  10. Eric

    I went with Expos. I think Spokes would be my second choice.

    Not a fan of Blitzkrieg whatsoever.

  11. Nick

    So you’ve never listened to “Blitzkrieg Bop?” Have you ever rooted for the Canisius Crusaders?

    I’m not saying it’s near my first choice or it isn’t, but let’s reclaim the word, as the politicos say. After all, journalists came up with the term to describe the military tactic. It’s not like it was Nazi pride.

  12. Mike

    I’m a little shocked at the negativity towards Blitzkrieg.

    I just thought the name brought a lot of the pieces here together. In no way shape or form did i anticipate it being linked to Nazi’s or try to make it insensitive towards others.

    The name links back to the crest with “lightning war” and the lightning bolts in the crest. Because it’s a foreign word there is a nod to the international love of soccer. I just thought it was effective.

    I do respect everyone’s opinions i just want to clarify that i meant no offense to those who find it offensive.

  13. CazCrik

    “Also, as a journalist, I want to give the writers something to work with. I can’t imagine typing FC Buffalo every time I wanted to refer to a team.” How is “Blitzkrieg” going to be media friendly? It will be torn to pieces by the media.

  14. Cameron

    I in no form agree with “Blitzkrieg” that’s not a nickname, it’s a surname. Can you imagine yelling out “Come On You, Blitzkreig!” What is that all about? Just an opinion, but I’m for the Spokes all the way. Not only for the EPL feel, but because it has the best ring to it and it is also incorperated in the logo. COME ON YOU SPOKES!

  15. Michael Schieber

    now im just aggravated that some guy who spun off blitzkrieg will win cause he was trying to be funny.

  16. The winner of the poll counts as an unspoken percentage of the board’s discussion on the comment. If there is an overwhelming first-place choice, we won’t deny our fans, but if there are 2, 3 or 4 within shouting distance, we will have a discussion at our next meeting.

  17. Michael Schieber

    well that makes me feel much better then. id like rust and spokes to get some more cause those are my personal three favorites

  18. Lauren

    I like the rust. It is DIFFERENT! Blitz is used already as a team, blitkrieg is lame because we are not german, bolts is not creative really (no offense) and I am not really sure how the spokes applies. My vote it for the RUST! Rust never sleeps, meaning that the team doesn’t stop and you can’t get rid of rust, it is always there and once it there is spreads and becomes a dominant force that you cant get rid of, its always there….just like the soccer team will be!!

  19. Cameron

    One question though, will these comments be taken into account? I see a bunch of comments against Blitzkrieg but it has the highest percentage on the poll.

  20. I dig Blitzkrieg so much. There’s the aforementioned built-in goal song of “Blitzkrieg Bop”, and from which comes a built-in fan chant of “Aye-Oh! Let’s Go!”, and die-hards could possibly call themselves “Kriegers”!

    To hell with Nazi implications, don’t be so sensitive – it’s just soccer.

    (I also do like Rust and Spokes, but I just don’t feel that there’s as much built in with either of those nicknames)

  21. Todd

    As the person who suggest Rust, let me give the reasons why, some are repeated:

    The Buffalo Rust

    Now, think about it: what is tougher than steel? rust. what never sleeps? rust. what grows strong with each passing day until it is all that you can see? rust.

    the name also shows that buffalo can embrace its current state, which is a way of drawing attention back to the city. Think about it, if one anchor mentions “Buffalo Rust” on the national news, people will take notice. and perhaps, since it is not a name that sticks to the normal Bills, Bulls, and such.

    And, to close it out, look at how Knox named the Sabres in a contest, with the winning name chosen because sabres are swift, graceful, yadda yadda yadda, can be used to look at the benefits of rust and thus the football team. At first it may not be noticed, but given time it will soon be known to all.

    Fans: Rusties

    Chant: Rust or Bust! Rust or Bust!

    Ridiculous Theme Song:
    rust, rust, we’re the buffalo rust
    leaving other teams in the dust
    rust, rust, this much you can trust
    so fast opponents can’t adjust
    rust, rust, buffalo rust!
    tell me who else can you trust?
    just the rust! the buffalo rust!

    Then we add a “Go Buffalo” for good measure. and a scarf.

  22. Rick

    If the team adopts a nickname through the vote, wesupporters can always band together to name ourselves. Off the top of my head, Chelsea has the Headhunters, West Ham has the Inner City Firm, Arsenal has the Gooners, Man U has the Red Army, and of course, who could forget the Hull City Psychos? We could take on the Rust or the Spokes.

  23. Cameron

    I’m down with that! Is anyone setting up a place, like a bar or something, we can all meet at pre-matches and then head down to the stadium?

  24. Alex

    There is a huge difference between the inner city firm and the headhunters and the term gooner and red army. The inner city firm and headhunters are both notorious hooligan firms, gooner and red army is the name given to any fan of arsenal or manchester united. And I really think its a bad idea to try to make any comparison to the headhunters especially if the nickname is blitzkrieg, because the headhunters have very strong links to numerous white supremacist organizations.

  25. john

    Are you all crazy with the ‘rust’ idea? The first image that comes to mind and it denotes is old,worn out,falling apart,tired and ready for the junk heap!

    Give it more time. None of these are that good. There has got to be more imagination out there.I agree with Chris. Let it develop if nothing more immediate catches on.

  26. Mike Schieber

    This Blitzer thing continues to annoy me to no end. Today alone it got nearly 40 votes. I hate that its even and option. I’d rather any other name on there win except that one. Terrible.