This poll stems from a conversation I had at the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival in our “Break Room.” There ‘might’ be an ‘urgent’ follow up depending on the results of this poll, so please no screwing around, please be honest. Thanks!
-Joe
PS: Poll should be up shortly…
PS2: Some history of how it changed can be found here.
I’m not familiar with your team being that this is my first year in FIRST, but I most definitely would recognise you easier as the Penguins over the Flyers.
How about “Those Meddling Kids”?
heh… That was 66’s name before “the Penguins”.
Andy B.
i have a penguin squishy thing somewhere in my room… so
Penguins it is
Having had my freshman year be 2002, and having been in Epcot during said Championship win, I definately will forever know you as the Penguins. What can I say, I resist change… Sometimes…
I remember them as “Those Meddling Kids,” too.
I prefer Penguins over Flyers but since I didn’t know your name was Penguins, I answered the poll truthfully. But I really think it should be “Those Meddling Kids.” It’s unique. 
(If that’s an inside joke, then meh…)
I always thought that was a catchy name and one not likely to be used by other teams.
You are from Willow Run High School…
A B-24 is your best bet. I mean, we all (in South East Michigan who are interested in planes more than cars) know when the Yankee Lady (Which is a B-17, I know) or the Yankee Warrior (which is a B-25, I know) flies by.
Over 8700 B-24 were made there in WWII. They say that at one point willow run was making 1 B-24 a minute.
Of course, I may think this way because my high school mascot (in Ohio) was the Kenston Bombers, because the school was used to train the bomber crews during WWII.
Can’t say I’ve ever thought of team 66 as anything but the Flyers.
And when I think Flyers, I think “Hey, they capped the vision tetra…”
I agree… the B-24 is already featured on our official logo.
But since the change to the Flyers name, we have not had an official mascot, and I don’t think a plane can be a mascot, nor do I really know what would constitute as a flyer (besides an eagle, but that’s a bit lame. …) With no real mascot, the spirit on our team has been lacking in recent years. Certainly externally at competitions you can hear us screaming the “who’s house, run’s house” chant and other loud spirit cheers, but internally, there is still a huge debate (some would like to debate the actual size of this debate, but I’ll leave it at huge) going on whether or not we should incorporate the penguin somehow.
That said, the penguin is still alive on the team. Quite frankly I still clearly remember the day I recieved the phone call that Team 66 won Nationals (I was in 7th grade) as penguins, andI was cooking grilled cheese for myself back at home.
Then the conversation at the heritage festival really got me interested in doing some ‘research.’ Someone in the break room still has a new penguin logo sitting on his computer, and I am waiting for it to arrive in my e-mail. I also asked if he could dress the penguin up in goggles and the cap pilots always wore back in the days of WWI. Another person also mentioned how confused everyone got, especially here on CD, when we changed names.
So my initial thought was this:
Our name should remain the Flyers.
The logo should remain the same with the B-24 and big 66.
But who’s going to pilot the B-24? Penguins wearing WWI air force equipment (old school football style helmet and goggles), thus a mascot.
This way, we not only keep the history of Willow Run in our name and logo, but we also keep the history of the Team remembered as well, for it was the Penguins that put Team 66 on the FIRST map. Not to mention our team will be recognizable by the other half of FIRSTers who still remember us as the Penguins.
a cautious 2 cents
-Joe
edit: now I still have to talk to my team, and then the school about this… so its nothing set in stone just yet…
I think that is a great idea! When you started your B-24 history, but not wanting the typical eagle, I immediately pictured your penguin with goggles and a white scarf. Sounds like a Win-Win!
The Flying Penguins -
-Going where we’ve never gone before -
I’ll agree, added a mascot adds a bunch to the team spirit, especially if you get the right person in there.
We figured we couldn’t get a good mascot because we were Lightning Robotics. We tossed around the idea of a lightning bug, lightning rod, etc… but we ended up with that creepy fellow up in my profile picture, Gigawatt (yes… pronounced incorrectly like in “Back to the Future”) And it rocks.
But I’m sure you can get a bomber mascot. Strap some wings onto someone’s arms. Or maybe get a whole WWII pilot getup, and have that person walk around. Or go crazy and dress someone up like a part of a plane… like landing gear or something…
Come to think of it… my high school didn’t have a mascot either… we would just get F-16 fly overs of the high school on special days.
http://www.awaps.org/funstuff/images/albert/albert1.jpg
You could go the “cute” way if you wanted for your B-24 mascot/logo.
Or for a physical mascot you could even just have someone possibly dress up as a WWII era bomber pilot.
I have you linked to the Flyers, but I make the connection to the Philadelphi Flyers when I hear your name as well (being a hockey fan). So, incorporation of the Philly Flyers logo, or something that resembles it, could work as well.
In a slight bit of irony, the Penguins is also an NHL team’s name, the Pittsburgh Penguins…
I’d think you were from Pennsylvania with those teams names. 
Being in the same-ish boat as Jon, I’ll always think of you guys as the penguins.
I think its also important to note that the Linux mascot is the Penguin:
http://www.mc-krsko.si/Data/MMCP/novice_new/Upload/Linux-penguin.picture.jpg
now ain’t that cute, just put it in a WWI or WWII pilot suit and its done. 
edit: well… on second thought and a piece of advice from a former member, we’ll put our old penguin in a pilot suit, not this one. The former member informed me that when the idea for the penguins was originally debated, the logo was made specifically against the linux one. In fact, it was made to emulate the big and buff teacher that ran the team at the time.
Honestly? Just as Team 66. Although I have vague recollections of the Mystery Machine, team names change so often that it just makes sense to brand with the number in mind. But it’s always good to gauge your audience.
Agreed, route 66 is always on my mind and a similar sign has always been on the front of our t-shirts (not our polos).
BTW: I need some more voters… I want to get a very good idea of who knows us as what to see what needs to happen as far as a mascot is concerned.
Joe,
I agree with Not2B. Penquins are cute and all, but you all have a really cool logo with the bomber in it. Your school and town history are all wrapped around the bomber plant. If you want something for those “cutesie” moods, you could wear red scarves ala Snoopy and the Red Baron, but you can’t beat the professional look of that Flyers logo.
Virginia
Team 470