Best Professional Sport Franchise

Ice Bats

We had the Firebirds baseball fiasco last year; on-again, off-again Texas League plans are again being loudly bruited about; a shifting line-up of soccer teams -- indoor/outdoor, amateur/semipro/in-between -- has fought for a market toehold over the years; even semi-pro football came and left without a trace. But now, Austin is quietly about to get its first serious pro sports franchise in decades, and they play, of all things, ice hockey. The Ice Bats already have a hit with their line of logo merchandise with the cool, cute-but-vicious flying rodent -- and that was before they had a single player signed. Who knows how popular they'll be when they actually start playing?

Ice Bats
Travis County Exposition Center, 7311 Decker Ln., 512/927-7825
www.icebats.com