Another pro sports team from New Jersey with NY name (Opinion)

Admittedly, I'm more of a Philadelphia sports fan. I grew up in South Jersey and know that area really well.

With Philadelphia sports, it's so convenient to get to their games. Aside from The Union who play in Chester, all of the major Philadelphia sports teams actually play in Philly.

A good amount of New York's sports teams, on the other hand, play here in New Jersey.

These teams: The Giants, Jets, and Red Bulls (MLS), all call themselves New York teams.

With the announcement of the New York Red Bulls building their new practice facility in Morris Township, my question is why do teams that play in New Jersey have to pretend they're a New York team? Are they embarrassed to call New Jersey home? Are they afraid of what the rest of the country thinks about New Jersey?

What other team in the world plays in one area but says they're from another area? Imagine saying "Yeah the team is called the New York Yankees, but they play in Florida." It just doesn't make any sense.

Giants

Let's look at the three "New York" teams that just so happen to play in New Jersey.

The Giants have been playing football since 1925. And yes, they started playing football in New York at the Polo Grounds, but then the original Giants Stadium was built in East Rutherford in 1976. When the team moved, they needed to change the name of the team.

Jets

Like the Giants, the New York Jets have been playing football since 1959 and played their first few years at the Polo Grounds then moved to Shea Stadium. Following their final game at Shea Stadium before moving to Giants Stadium, the scoreboard even called them the NJ Jets.

Then again, with their record as of late, do we really want to call the Jets our own?

Red Bulls

And finally, the lesser-known "New York" sports team is the New York Red Bulls of the MLS. The team was founded in 1994 and began playing in the MLS's inaugural season as the New York/New Jersey Metrostars. We finally got another New Jersey sports team that's actually named after the state they play in, but c'mon why did they have to add New York into their name?

To make matters worse, in 2006, Red Bull, the energy drink company, purchased the team and changed the name to Red Bull New York.

Red Bull essentially stole New Jersey from the team's name. They started playing at Giants Stadium until 2010 when they built their own stadium in Harrison - Red Bull Arena. This "New York" team never even played a home game in New York, so why the name change?

So, my question to you is why are these "New York" teams afraid to be their true New Jersey selves?

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis Malloy's own.