Hmmm... good point! Then we should add Canadien to NHL. The team is le club Canadien de hockey and French language headlines and broadcasts regularly refer to them as le Canadien. Canadiens is an English (and sometimes French) shorthand; just like Cardinals.
No, not just like Cardinals. Stanford isn't known as the Cardinals, at all, in any language, ever. As for your Montreal statement, it would be valid if this quiz were written in French. But... it is not.
North Dakota isn't in the NCAA, but North Texas Mean Green is. Also, got Fighting Irish, but decided I didn't need "fighting" for herd and Illini. Couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. Oops.
They're only off by 2%. I imagine people who don't follow baseball can recall the Red Sox easily enough, as they are one of the signature teams, and get a ton of media coverage. The White Sox, despite a long history, have become an afterthought. They've been mediocre or terrible for a decade, and they are totally eclipsed by the Cubs in the Chicago market. I think that's enough to explain a 2% difference.
I was thinking the same thing: Dream, Sky, Sun, Fever, Liberty, Lynx, Mercury, Storm.... I guessed several of those in case there were colleges using those names.
Waiting for them to decide on their new team name before I update all the quizzes. But it would be very meta if they changed their name to simply "Football Team".
The people offended by the past name I doubt spend any time watching football. They have to spend the majority of their time being offended or it would never have become an issue. I'm sure they could find a way to be offended by the name Football Team, as well. Perhaps on behalf of all international soccer fans who don't watch? (since they're being offended on behalf of other people in this case, too, polls of indigenous Americans find that the majority either have no problem with the Redskins name or find it positive)
Isn't "Sox" just an abbreviation for "socks"? The Chicago White Sox shortened their name from the Chicago White Stockings. The Red Sox are named after their predecessor, the Boston Red Stockings, and their logo is, of course, a pair of red socks. Although the names don't end with "s", they are clearly intended to be considered plural, so they end in "s" in spirit.
Or it could be that the original Red Stockings were the later Boston Braves, or that they stole the name from the Cincinnati Red Stockings and did not want to be associated with them?
Midshipmen and Minutemen would be excluded as well (Fighting Illini may also be). Thundering Herd may be as well since a herd is multiple bison, not one. NCSU and Nevada would be out since you have to have multiple wolves to have a pack. The quiz didn't ask for non-plural names; it asked for names that didn't end with 's'.
I think you have a point, but the full name is what is needed. That's the Illinois Fighting Illini (named after Chief Illiniwek, if I recall). It's like me calling my team the Wildcats. Kansas State Wildcats is our full name, and if I say the Wildcats, most people around where I live know who I mean. However, if I went further east and said the Wildcats, most people would assume I meant Kentucky. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and go ahead put the full name to be sure.
FWIW I really, really hope the Washington Football Team keeps their name as that. I actually think it's good branding, in a somewhat ironic way. But at the very least it can't be worse than the Browns name/logo.
Also, I think Washington Football Team should probably be added, though this is probably their last year with that name.