From The Ground Up: Picking Cities
31 CommentsThis past week you all have been voting on the divisional boundary alignment for the Icethetics-created fantasy hockey league. Alignment A got the most votes, taking 733 of 2,208. For a quick refresher, here's what that boundary alignment looks like.
Obviously, not all of the cities listed will be included. Last week we completed a poll in which you guys determined our league would have 30 teams. That brings us to this week. We're going to be doing two divisions at a time over the next three weeks.
This week you'll vote on the cities to be included in the Pacific and Central Divisions. One from the West, one from the East. Five cities from each division — 10 total. Yay, math.
From the 12 cities listed, you can choose to vote for as few as 1 or as many as all 12. It's entirely up to you. You just choose the cities you think should be included. However, only the five with the most votes at the end of the week will be included in the division.
LOOKING AHEAD
For reference, next week will be the North and Northeast Divisions. That'll be the weekend of September 6. After that we'll do the South and Southeast. Those polls will begin on the weekend of September 13.
My plan is to do a few things concurrently just to get through this quicker, but I reserve the right to change my mind if it becomes too much work for me. Next weekend we'll know which cities are getting teams so at that point I'd like to start taking nominations for team names.
NAMING NOMINATIONS
IMPORTANT: I will not accept name nominations until the city selection polls are finalized — no matter how many votes any city is getting!
Now, about how the naming will work. When you make a nomination, you must include locator with it. In other words, don't just submit Lightning. Submit Tampa Bay Lightning. Or Florida Lightning or St. Petersburg Lightning. Like I said before, you'll be choosing a locator that goes with your name.
When these polls are finished, I will offer a complete list of acceptable locators for each city chosen. For example, if Tampa was one of the selected cities, your locator options would be: Tampa, Tampa Bay, Florida, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Lakeland. Orlando would not be accepted because it is considered a separate market for our purposes. However, if Orlando was selected instead of Tampa, Lakeland might still be included with it because of its proximity to both cities. But if Tampa and Orlando were both selected, Lakeland would only be available to one city or the other. Make sense?
We'll do the same name nominating process the week after for the next two divisions and so on. I'll accept nominations for a week and then have you guys vote on the final name. All nominations will be included in this process provided they fit within the guidelines I set up. More on those in the next paragraph.
THE RESTRICTIONS
I know saying restrictions sounds bad but it's basically what they are. I'm just starting to work on this so don't consider this final by any means. It's just a way of letting you know what to expect. A team name nomination will NOT be accepted if it breaks any of the following rules:
- It may not use a name of any current or past NHL team.
- It may not use the name of any current AHL or ECHL team.
- It may not use the name or close variation of any professional sports team currently or previously within the same market or geographical area.
- It may not use the name of any team from Project: IHA
- It may not be vulgar or in any way inappropriate. (And I'll decide what's inappropriate.)
That should cut down on any potential similarity to the NHL or any other league. I'll have another list like this for when it comes time to choose colors and create logos. But again, this is not final. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Email me or leave a comment.
Happy voting!
Reader Comments (31)
I was hoping Alignment D would win, so Bridgeport would be in the running for a team, but alas.
Pacific:
Anchorage
Vancouver
Seattle
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Central:
Chicago
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Detroit
Cincinnati
i wanted alignment b to win, i didn't like a because of the western conferences north division, i only really think 3 cities could actually support a proffesional team, i thought maybe like minnisota or missouri shoulod be included, but i guess this is why it is just a fantasy league, so what can you do
Pacific
Anchorage
Vancouver
Portland
San Diego
San Francisco
SAULT STE. MARIE LETS GET A TEAM!!
(ALTHOUGH IT PROBABLY WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR A REAL PROFFESIONAL TEAM)
hey i just looked at the voting and wait there is no sault ste. marie!! well that sucks!!
Central
Detroit
Cleveland
Chicago
Kanas City
Minnisota
League looks good, but im telling you it could be better with the SOO
after i just read the entire section i really like this idea, gonna start thinking of some names, but kinda disappointed that no teams can have just one of the same proffesional names, but whatever i quess theres still alot of othernames that can be used
if las vegas gets a team they should be called the millionaires and also Chris, the names aren't aloud to be any IHA names right?
Good job laying down the rules Chris. I like how assertive you are for this tournament.
Chris, the names aren't aloud to be any IHA names right?
Good point. I've added that to the restrictions above.
central:
indy, chicago, detroit, cleveland, minnesota
pacific:
vancouver, LA, San Fran, Seattle, and why not...Las Vegas
hey maybe i missed it but was an official name for the league ever finalized? just asking cuz i dont really know what to refer to this as
the central division is gonna be a pretty close vote imo
i dnt agree with umfan3915...if las vegas gets a team.. they should be called the Las Vegas Gamblers.
Ok people, this isn't the NHL. This is why I wanted to go with map D. we already have 5 of 6 NHL teams in the lead (although Minneapolis MN is close at least its not in ST. Pauls, but I bet it will still be named the Minnesota something). I admit I did vote for one of those five, but it was for the battle of BC. This is lame... Oh well at least the names will be unique thanks to Chris. Hopefully the rest of the divisions work out... I want a team in Halifax, because they need one.
I really like this idea. A great chance to really express our creativity here. I also like the fact that those not as artistically talented to submit concept art can still have a role in the overall format of the project.
Now, here are my cities:
Pacific--
Los Angeles, CA
Seattle, WA
Vancouver, BC
Anchorage, AK
Las Vegas, NV
Central--
Detroit, MI
Minneapolis, MN
St. Louis, MO
Chicago, IL
Kansas City, MO
I am personally voting for all non-NHL cities like Seattle and Kansas City.k
This is a great Idea Chris. I chose cities that are not being used by the NHL right now, though a select few, like Vancouver were selected because of the fact that Vancouver is a Canadian city and they deserve to have a team. My cities were:
Pacific--
Portland,OR
Seattle, WA
San Francisco, CA
Vancouver, BC
Las Vegas, NV
Central--
Kansas City, MO
Cleveland, OH
Cincinatti, OH(figured it would make for a good rivalry with the Cleveland team)
Milwaukee, WI
Chicago, IL
What? Greenville, SC over Charleston, SC? Pfft! :)
Here's how I voted
San Diego, Vegas, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Anchorage.
Kansas City, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Indianapolis. (No Chicago, am I crazy?!)
my noms...
Pacific
Anchorage AK
Vancouver BC
Seattle WA
Portland OR
San Francisco CA
Central
Chicago IL
Detroit MI
Indianapolis IN
Milwaukee WI
Minneapolis MN
Everything looks great. I just wish a different alignment had won. Conceivably, Toronto or Ottawa could get left out of the Northeast because of how many viable cities are nominated for that division, and I feel like the North division is going to be an all-Canada division.
Still, nice job Chris. Glad to see this is running smoothly thus far.
I'm suprised Anchorage and Las Vegas are still in the pacific top 5
that north is pretty weak
while the central is loaded
move minnesota to the north!
Sigh.... in spite of everything, it looks like it's going to be predominantly a NHL cities league.
Wow! Chicago and Detroit! Vancouver and Minnesota! Oh, the originality and creativity THOSE cities will inspire.
At least there will be a sizable number of non-NHL cities to keep things interesting...
I could see Chicago and Minnesota inspiring some awesome names. I didn't call my Blades of Steel teams the North Stars and Blackhawks, I called them something like the Greens and the Grays(Ok, so I was something like three when that game came out, and I played it all day with my dad, and he thought it was cool).
Regardless of whether it's an NHL city or not, (For what it's worth, I've voted for some NHL cities, but also for Las Vegas, Sudbery, Anchorage, and Milwaukee among others non-NHLers), some NHL cities and markets are no brainers for teams in a league if you're going to have a successful league.
Also, I dunno how much effort or if it would even be possible, but if we could get enough interest among people here on the blog, with Chris's permission, we could actually start this league in NHL 09, and get blog readers to play in it. I know I wouldn't mind putting work towards doing it, as this seems like a decent community when we're not pissed off about something.
I like the fact that some nhl cities will get teams, and some won't. I mean, if you want to create something new, I think it's best to mix nhl cities and non-nhl cities. It would definitively have a minor league feel if all the big hockey markets were left out just because they already have an nhl team. I think you did the right thing!
my choices so far:
Pacific:
- Seattle
- Vancouver
- San Francisco
- Anchorage
- Portland
Central:
- Cleveland
- Milwaukee
- Minneapolis
- Saint Louis
- Chicago
(goodbye Detroit...) :)
we shouldn't have a whole division full of NHL cities. we need more nonNHL cities in the central division like Kansas City. i know they are trying to get a real NHL or NBA team right now.
Pacific:
Seattle
San Diego
Las Vegas
Anchorage
Portland
Central:
Cleveland
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Chicago
Indianapolis
As promised, I voted all non-NHL:
Seattle, Anchorage, San Diego, Portland, San Fransisco.
Milwaukee, Cleveland, KC, Indianapolis, Sudbury.
Ok, I just looked at the results... (yes, I actually vote before I peak at the standings)... and it seems pretty obvious that the cities with the largest populations will have the largest 'hometown bias'.
Which brings me back to the comment I made when we were choosing divisions: Alignment A will have almost no Canadian cities because the US has a much larger population.
Not complaining, just observing.
I just checked the teams that are currently leading. The Pacific Division isn't so bad: Vancouver, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, and Las Vegas. Then again, there were only three NHL cities in that division, so we were guaranteed at least three non-NHL cities there.
But the Central is just ridiculous: No Cleveland, no Cincinnati, no Kansas City, no Indianapolis. Of course, isn't this what everyone knew would happen the moment Alignment A won?
I wish Chris had just gone ahead and put the actual NHL alignment as an option, since it's obviously what a lot of people wanted. Then we could have looked forward to a league consisting of the Boston Bears, the Carolina Cyclones, the Los Angeles Monarchs, the Denver Snowslide...
Mind you, I don't blame Chris for any of this. But this project is getting less interesting every time we reach a new stage.
Hey Chris, when it's time to vote for names I think it would be really helpful if along with the names their was a very brief explanation for for it, like a sentience at most. For example (I live on Long Island NY so I'll use that): The Long Island Aviators - The area has a long aviation history including Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart's take off point and the Grumman manufacturing plant.
I don't know how much harder it would make things for you but I think it would make for better name selections; just my two cents.
What a terrible job choosing the cities dude. 8 current franchises make up the northeast picks while only 2 from the west. You should be ashamed of yourself, you just lost a reader.
Chris,
Naming Nominations question: Why do we need to vote on team names? Why not let artists submit a full proposal (logo, name and all)... then vote on those?
We don't have to worry so much about this being NHL city names. The way the naming works as Chris mentions is that several locators will be available. For Example Toronto could conceivably be North York, Scarborough, etc. It could also be The "team name" of Greater Toronto.
another example could be for Detroit - Hamtramck, Grosse Point, Fort Wayne, Dearborn, Windsor Ontario, or even, and in my opinion the best, the Border Cities "team name"
I think this makes the alignment seem much more tolerable if major NHL markets get teams, we just vote for the best sounding, or different locator/team name combo.