Tucson Sugar Skulls owner Kevin Guy admires his franchise's new name and logo.
Before Tucson Indoor Football League co-owners Kevin and Cathy Guy chose a name for their new team, they rented office space at Kino Sports Complex and signed a deal to run their day-to-day training at Kino.
The only time they will be in the Tucson Arena is for their eight home games next spring.
Then Kevin Guy, who has a 142-44 record as head coach of the indoor league’s Arizona Rattlers, began researching the promotional and marketing opportunities in Tucson.
He knew that promotion-minded minor-league baseball teams long ago moved past traditional nicknames such as the Tucson Toros and Phoenix Giants. He knew this was an opportunity to give the Tucson franchise a singular name.
So he chose Sugar Skulls. What do you think? Home run? Pop-up?
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Guy was impressed by minor league merchandising departments, such as the Double-A Southern League, whose team names are, among others, the Biloxi Shuckers, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and the Montgomery Biscuits.
Indoor football isn’t supposed to be Bill Belichick and Nick Saban stalking the sidelines, deadly serious, no fun in the forecast.
Last year, Guy’s Rattlers beat Cedar Rapids 84-83 in Phoenix. That’s the type of fun Guy hopes the Sugar Skulls can exhibit in Tucson. His Phoenix team’s average score was 53-41.
Reflecting Guy’s enterprise, the IFL’s Cedar Rapids Titans last week changed their name to Cedar Rapids River Kings. And the IFL’s other expansion team, in Moline, Illinois, chose the name Quad City Steamwheelers.
Sweet.
The crazy thing about Guy’s involvement with the Tucson Sugar Skulls is that he is going to continue to coach the Rattlers. The Sugar Skulls will be their archrival.
“I’m not going to let off, and I expect to get coach (Marcus) Coleman’s best shot,” said Guy, the man who hired Coleman to coach the Sugar Skulls. “The league approves. Those home-and-home games between the Rattlers and Sugar Skulls should be wild.”
The Sugar Skulls’ home games will probably be Saturdays at 6 p.m. and on Sunday afternoons. This isn’t just an experiment, either.
“We’re looking for a home in Tucson,” said Guy. “Our daughter plans to go to the UA. This market is untapped.”
When Guy and fellow co-owner, Tucson attorney Ali Farhang, told me the nickname would be Sugar Skulls, I had some doubts. I have since bought it.
In my opinion, the best nickname in Tucson sports history has been the Stick Lizards, the Class D baseball team of the early 1930s. Now come the Sugar Skulls.
Home run.
