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Originally posted by Bart Tyson
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Keep in mind this is the same state that takes pride in their "NIMRODS!" 
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Nimrods, I've seen this on ESPN. Is there really a name for a school called Nimrods? [/B]
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Although it's a humorous name for most of us, you can see how a school might pick this as the name for the team (warning: religious material follows):
The name Nimrod may come from the Hebrew verb 'nimrodh' which is translated, "Let us revolt." Nimrod is referred to as a 'mighty one': this phrase derives from the Hebrew word 'gilor' which means "tyrant". Nimrod was not just a powerful man on the earth at that time, he was a tyrannical leader of men. The phrase "a mighty hunter before the Lord" suggests that it was not wild beasts that Nimrod was hunting, but men. Having hunted them he would enslave them and have a tyranical hold over them. And all this was done in direct opposition to the Lord.
It has also been suggested that Nimrod tamed a leopard to accompany him on his hunts for animals, just as people today use dogs for this purpose. This could also be where Nimrod got his name: the Babylonian name for "leopard" was "nimr" and "rod" means "to subdue."
After the Great Flood, various city-states in Mesopotamia became the temporary seat of power until about 2800 BC, when they were united under the rule of one king, Etana of Kish, who may also be the origin of the Biblical Nimrod. Seven cities were conquered by this king, who established the world's first, post-deluge empire. After founding a southern (Sumerian) empire in Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, he invaded Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah and Resen. He then unified the people in numerous construction projects, the most prominent of which was the construction of the Tower of Babel.
In his ancient history Histori Romani Scriptorium Justin states,
"Ninus strengthened the greatness of his acquired dominion by continued possession. Having subdued, therefore, his neighbors, when, by an accession of forces, being still further streng-thened, he went forth against other tribes, and every new victory paved the way for another, he subdued all the peoples of the east."
Ninus is probably Nimrod - Genesis 10:11 indicates that Nimrod was the builder of Nineveh, and the word Nineveh (Nin-neveh) means "the habitation of Ninus."