Thunder fans strike up new mascot name
Throughout the month of March, fans were invited to visit trentonthunder.com and suggest a name for the new character. Suggestions were also accepted at Thunder community and school appearances throughout the month. Over 1,000 suggestions were made with "Strike" being the most suggested name.
"We're truly excited to introduce Strike to Thunder fans," said Thunder General Manager Brad Taylor. "The name Strike is associated with both thunder and lightning and contains a great baseball reference as well. I think the fans really nailed this one out of the park."
Nine-year old Jake Edwards of Hamilton, NJ was chosen at random from all the "Strike" entries to win a prize pack of Thunder tickets and merchandise valued at over $500. Included is a $100 gift card from Applebee's Restaurants.
The other top suggested names were the following: Bolt, Flash, T-Bolt, Volt, Rod, and Zap. Some of the more unusual names were: Hobbs and Wonderboy (references to Roy Hobbs' lightning symbol on his bat in the movie The Natural), Alex Tricity (play off of Electricity), Blitz (lightning in German), Fulgurite (lightning in Greek), Rayo (lightning in Spanish), Eddie (after Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb) and Franklin (after Ben Franklin, and his famous lightning experiment).
The new character is a giant thunder bolt modeled after the Thunder's new alternate logo that was unveiled last August.
All Thunder tickets are on sale now online at www.trentonthunder.com and by phone 609-394-3300.