Nicknames that are Nutz

The Normal, Ill., franchise that is planning to enter the Frontier League in 2010 has trimmed its list of potential team nicknames to four. Almost 1,500 entries were submitted in a name-the-team contest, and here are the Final Four:

Nutz
Nighthawks
Coal Bears
CornBelters

If these were the four best nicknames, I don't want to know what the rejected ones were. Nighthawks is obviously the best of the four, but it's too similar to the Rockford Riverhawks. The Normal Nutz is laughable. The Coal Bears might have something to do with mining in the Normal area, but again it's too similar to the Southern Illinois Miners. CornBelters also falls into the laughable category but is even cornier (I can't believe I just typed that) than Nutz.

Coal Bears is the early favorite based on voting on the franchise's homepage. Nutz was the most-suggested nickname of the four finalists.