ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä

So far, the team’s management has let it be known that “ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉäâ€� will be the first word in the West Virginia Power’s new name, identifying the team’s home turf with more precision. A pair of five-letter words, the last one ending in “sâ€� will complete the new name, to be officially revealed on Sept. 28, following the first half of a doubleheader at Appalachian Power Park.

While management is being coy about the name change to build suspense and accommodate a guess-the-name promotion, the team has recorded three “doing business as� identities with the Secretary of State’s office, any of which may or may not turn out to be the new name.

I’m kind of hoping for a “may not,â€� since the three names on file so far are the Dirty Birds, the River Toads and the Rough Necks — all preceded by ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, of course.

Dirty Birds? How about the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Chickadees instead? But Dirty Birds? Not so much. Rough Necks? Meh. And what are River Toads? The three toad species that live in the state don’t have “riverâ€� in their names and tend to avoid immersion in water except when breeding.

For animal names, I think the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Cicadas could have generated some serious buzz, while the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Mussel Men could have recognized those who gathered, and decimated, a form of native aquatic life early in the last century to serve the button industry.

For those who prefer a little ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Charlies-style alliteration in a new team name, why not consider the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Charlatans, Chaws, Chemists, Chosen, Chakras or Chuckies — the last honoring state native Brad Dourif, who starred or did voiceover work in at least six “Child’s Playâ€� slasher movies.

Meanwhile, another new Atlantic League team also finds itself in the process of coming up with a new name. In August, the former Staten Island Yankees, dropped by their cross-harbor Major League parent club at the end of the 2019 season, announced they would be joining the Atlantic League starting in 2022.

Back in 2016, the Staten Island team invited the public to come up with five possible new names for the team in an effort to develop its own unique brand. It turned out that the most popular name by far was the Pizza Rats, a tribute to an internet video of a rat dragging a huge slice of pizza down a subway staircase that went viral in 2015.

Club management kept the Yankees name, but played in Pizza Rat uniforms on Saturday home games during the 2019 season.

Oddly, Pizza Rats did not make the cut to be considered as a team name during next year’s Atlantic League debut, despite a management team that now includes “Saturday Night Live� stars Michael Che, Pete Davidson and Colin Jost, the latter of whom are Staten Island natives.

Instead, the nominees include the Staten Island Responders, Watchdogs, Harbor Heroes, Ferry Hawks and Dragon Slayers.

Trades are made in baseball all the time. Wonder if we could acquire Pizza Rats for a Power and a nickname to be named later?