Raleigh IceCaps
November 27, 2011 15 Comments
The Raleigh IceCaps were a hockey team that played in North Carolina’s capital as members of the East Coast Hockey League from 1991 to 1998.
Spotlight
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Washington Federals
January 16, 2014 1 Comment
The Washington Federals were a dreadful early 1980’s entry in the otherwise fondly remembered United States Football League. The Feds went 7-29 over two seasons of play and were famously compared to “a group of untrained gerbils” by exasperated team owner Berl Bernhard. After two seasons in the nation’s capital, the club was sold and packed off to Orlando prior to the USFL’s third and final season in 1985.
Honoring the Negro Leagues
Baltimore Elite Giants (1938-1951)
February 27, 2026 No Comments
The Baltimore Elite Giants got their start in Nashville, before moving to Columbus, Ohio for one year, then to Washington, D.C. They moved down the road in Baltimore in 1938 and played there until 1950, before spending their final season back in Tennessee.
Retro Hockey
Winnipeg Jets (1972-1996)
March 6, 2025 2 Comments
The original Winnipeg Jets were charter members of the WHA in 1972. They moved to the NHL in 1979, along with three other WHA squads. In 1995, they were sold and moved to Phoenix for the 1996-97 hockey season. The name was revived when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba in 2011 and assumed the Jets name but not their history.
baseball History
Atlantic City Surf
December 31, 2017 2 Comments
The Atlantic City Surf were one of the six original franchises in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Atlantic League was (and remains) the most ambitious league to arise out of the independent baseball boom of the 1990’s. The Surf played at the Sandcastle, a 5,900-seat ballpark built on the grounds of Atlantic City’s municipal airport, Bader Field. The stadium was built with $11.5 million in Casino Reinvestment Development Authority funds and $3 million in taxpayer bonds.
Soccer Indoor and outdoor
New Jersey Wildcats
March 21, 2022 No Comments
For a remarkable three-year period between 2004 and 2006 this amateur women’s soccer club that played in a 1,500-seat community college field in the Trenton suburbs managed to sign up a jaw-dropping roster of top players from all over the world. The Wildcats ran roughshod over the USL’s W-League during these years with only one North American women’s club – the Vancouver Whitecaps – able to stay on the field with them.
Arena Football
Nashville Kats (1997-2001)
February 21, 2018 No Comments
Arena Football League (1997-2001) Nashville Kats (1997-2001) Born: January 4, 1996 – AFL expansion franchise Moved: September 21, 2002 (Georgia Force) First Game: May 2, 1997 (W 47-21 vs. San Jose SaberCats) Last Game: August 19, 2001 (L 64-42 @ Grand Rapids Rampage) Arena Bowl Championships: None Nashville Arena (16,121)
American Basketball Association (1967-1976)
March 25, 2012 No Comments
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was formed in 1967 as a competitor to the established National Basketball Association (NBA). It started with 11 teams, and within a few years was angling for a merger with the older league. In 1976, the NBA took in four ABA teams, while three other surviving teams disbanded.
Montreal Concordes
January 14, 2018 5 Comments
In the spring of 1982, the Canadian Football League’s venerable Montreal Alouettes franchise collapsed under a mountain of debt. Seeking a clean slate for new ownership, league officials folded the Alouettes on May 13, 1982 and awarded a new Montreal expansion club to Seagram’s liquor baron and Montreal Expos founder Charles Bronfman the next day. The club embarked on a star-crossed four year voyage under the new name “Concordes”, drawing inspiration from the iconic supersonic transatlantic jets of the era.