Missoula PaddleHeads Send Funny Tweet to Their New Montana Rivals

It wasn't too long ago that the Missoula PaddleHeads had their announce day to share their new team name and logos. Of course, that was the beginning of a whirlwind ride for the team that saw their name change from the Osprey be named the best rebrand in Minor League Baseball, their anticipated debut season of 2020 be wiped out because of COVID, and their eventual first season as the PaddleHeads in 2021 that culminated with a league championship. Now, the PaddleHeads have a new rival that is unveiling their name and design for all the world to see.

It was announced last August that the Pioneer League would be adding two teams.

Kalispell was named as one of the teams that would push the league from 8 to 10 teams when play begins later this year. As soon as the announcement was made it immediately put a new rival in place for the Missoula PaddleHeads. After months of waiting, and with the season just over four months away, we now have more details about exactly what these new rivals will look like.....and be named.

The Range Riders are born

Yesterday's announcement, which was made on a specific date and time for a reason, brought the Glacier Range Riders to life. If you couldn't tell, the team's name and background come from nearby Glacier Park. The details of the name and logos are actually a pretty cool story that you can read in this article, which contains the small excerpt below.

Inspired by early 20th-century outdoorsmen patrolling the 1.3 million acres that is now Glacier National Park, the name ‘Range Rider’ has deep regional roots. These wilderness defenders protected and preserved the area from poachers, wildfires, and timber thieves during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. Their rough-and-tumble role and characteristic toughness influenced the creation of the Range Rider mascot, a yet unnamed mountain goat. - SportsLogos.net -

Rivals are gonna rival

My favorite part of the Range Riders announcement came in the form of a short video that was posted by the Missoula PaddleHeads. A Range Riders' post on Twitter had an introduction video with footage of the outdoors, renderings of the new stadium being built in Kalispell, and clips of a mountain goat in the wild. With a mountain goat being announced as the mascot for the new team in Kalispell, the PaddleHeads replied to the Range Riders video with the funny response below. You have to love a good ribbing right out of the gate!

The season is right around the corner

It's crazy to think that we'll be playing baseball again in no time as the season gets underway for the PaddleHeads in late May. We'll have to wait and see what fun the PaddleHeads will come up with to tease their new rivals on the video board when they make their first trip to Missoula.