Name of the Year

When I first made this list last March and more recently this one last month of some of the funnier and more unusual names I had seen in sports, I suppose I should have assumed that someone else had already taken this pursuit to another level.  The level to which they had, I could not have guessed. 

And apparently, not only was I embarrassingly outdone, but I have been getting outdone for 17 years (though, in my defense, they haven't been publishing it for the whole time). 

Last year's Name of the Year winner was a football player from LSU (Barkevious Mingo), but they're not all sports figures. And where I generally focused on the miserable albatrosses that parents bestowed on their children, many of the most spectacular of these names are last names, or even better: amazing combinations of first and last names.  These guys have done their homework and found some epic names, all of which are apparently verified before publishing (except, of course, for Licentious Beastie [Name of the Year 1999;  invalidated 2006] and Mummenschontz Bitterbeetle [Name of the Year 1994; invalidated 2006]).

Sponteneous Gordon, Nubian Peak and God's Power Offor appear to be early front-runners in this year's tournament (just in time for March, of course), but do not miss the Hall of Fame section.  Assumption Bulltron?  Vanilla Dong?  Tanqueray Beavers?  Tokyo Sexwale?  All your favorites are there.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Name of the Year.

And don't forget to check in during the coming weeks to vote in this year's tourney.

(Speaking of tourneys, if you would like to join a free Yahoo! NCAA Tourney group, go to Yahoo! Sports and enter the Group ID #5446 and password "march".  There are instructions there if you really want to bet $10 on your picks, but that is optional.  You need a Yahoo! screen name to play but it is free to register.)