How did the Tampa Bay Mutiny get their name?

Answer 1

I worked on some of the early local advertising for the club back in 1996. Here's what we were told:

The name and logo were chosen by a design team at Nike that created all of the original MLS team logos and uniform systems. People (including us at the ad agency) initially assumed that it followed the same the pirate lineage as the city's NFL franchise, the Buccaneers. Since the logo didn't look at all "pirate-y" we pressed for clarification, as did others. I remember the eye-rolling throughout the agency when it was announced by Nike that the name was futuristic and referred to "a group of mutant beings" -presumably like the figure on the team's crest. When further pressed as to how this creature could play soccer, the design team at Nike, in one of the most contrived responses of all time, stated that as a mutant he controlled the ball with his mind.

Too bad he couldn't control the minds of the fans, who despite the team's early success, never fully warmed up to "the bat" as we used to call him, or the franchise for that matter.