Thanks everyone for your feedback on the River Rockers proposal that we unveiled last week. We're happy to report that the comments were overwhelmingly positive, both on this website as well as on our new Twitter page (Please follow twitter.com/beloitrockers).

To us the results prove that fans are open-minded about rebranding the team, just don't like the names which have been proposed so far (Cheeseballs, Moo, Polka Pike, Sky Carp and Supper Clubbers). We're not opposed to any and all change, we just want smart change!

And to the fans who say they would rather just keep "Snappers" as the name: We hear you, in fact so would we! But unfortunately the organization still insists the Snappers will be rebranded next season. Rightly or wrongly, they have moved on. So for us now it's a choice between fighting a battle that's already lost, or trying to find an acceptable compromise. If we can convince the team to keep Snappy as the mascot and find a new name that better represents Beloit that would be something we could all be proud of.

One of the best aspects of the River Rockers idea is it grows the Snappers universe. Every rockstar needs a band right? So instead of just one mascot, the team could now have 4 or 5! Snappy would of course be the lead singer of the River Rockers, but he could also be joined by:

* Longtime Beloit Brewers mascot Brewsteer comes out of retirement to play keyboard
* Skye Carp plays lead guitar
* The Polka Pike thankfully puts away his accordion and handles bass guitar
* Mr. Cheeseball is on drums
* The River Rockers perform every night at The Supper Club inside Riverbend Stadium

We see the River Rockers mascots working the same way as the Milwaukee Brewers Famous Racing Sausages. Snappy (like Bernie Brewer) is the leader... but the other mascots (like the Racing Sausages) can still engage with fans around the stadium, do a nightly mascot race, etc. And probably most importantly as far as the organization is concerned, could also be featured in a wide variety of merchandise sold in the team store and online. Local fans who would probably boycott the team if it was renamed the "Beloit Cheeseballs" might be more likely to buy a Mr. Cheeseball t-shirt if he was just the drummer in the band.

So what do you think of all this? Do you like the idea of including the other proposed mascots in the River Rockers? Or would you prefer someone else join Snappy's band? Please let us know your ideas in the comments section below.