South Dakota Doesn’t Have a Corner on the Offbeat Sports Nickname Market

When it comes to sports in South Dakota over the years, we've some good teams and some not so good teams.

But we've never been cheated when it comes to unique names for our local squads.

Nowhere else can fans pull up a seat and root for their hometown Skyforce.

While on the diamond, we are the only place that can say the Canaries rule our roost.

Even our local college teams get in on the act.

There is only one school in all of the NCAA to wear Jackrabbits on their jerseys - at South Dakota State. While in Vermillion fans root for the only Division I school that features a Coyote as a mascot.

But we aren't the only ones that are pushing the envelope when it comes to sports mascots.

The website Mashable chronicles some of the newest monikers to hit minor league baseball and some of them are doozies!

The latest is the Rocket City Trash Pandas, who will begin play in 2020 in Madison, Alabama. The team name was inspired by nearby Huntsville, Alabama, which is home to NASA's George C. Marshall Flight Center.

That comes on the heels of the folks in Jacksonville, Florida rebranding their minor league baseball team the Jumbo Shrimp in time for the 2016 season.

Two years prior to that it was the unveiling of the El Paso Chihuahuas on the minor league diamond in Texas.

And just how are these new nicknames being received by fans? Pretty well if you look at cash register receipts.

According to team reports, the Trash Pandas have already moved more than $500,000 in merchandise and they don't even play their first game for another year!

Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas saw 32,000 items fly off the shelves in just six weeks.

Translation: weird sells!