The BS Patriots

1971: After relocating the Boston Patriots from Boston to Foxborough (a half-hour south), team owner Billy Sullivan decided he needed to rename the team. So they became the Bay State Patriots.

A month later he changed the name again, to the New England Patriots. The reason this time: a radio announcer had referred to the team as the "BS Patriots." Sullivan explained, "We didn't think that abbreviation would reflect well on either the team or the league."

The Palm Beach Post - Mar 23, 1971

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 05, 2017
Category: Odd Names | Sports | 1970s

Comments

Many would still consider them the BS Patriots.

Posted by moghopper on 04/05/17 at 08:18 AM

Acronyms can be fun when people who don't think them through apply them to their projects. When I worked for the U.S. Air Force during my college days, acronyms were applied to many a department to identify them. For the most part it worked well, but applying the process outside of its intended use caused unintentional problems. One day a flyer appeared around the base announcing Disabled Employee Awareness Day, a pet project of the civilian director of the logistics command, who, as it happened, required crutches for mobility due to a congenital defect. Fortunately he was a good sport about it when I pointed it out to him.

Posted by KDP on 04/05/17 at 12:53 PM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.