Through history the term Wizard usually sent fear into the hearts of the people. Of course people in medieval times and before were a lot more superstitious than we are today. If you told someone today that you knew a wizard, you would probably get “yeah, sure” out of them. Today many of us tend to think of this term as something that comes with software that helps you to install it. An example of this would be the Microsoft custom installation wizard. The term wizard has really been thrown around lately and there are a lot of people today and in the recent past, that are known as wizards, not the magical kind however. What do we find if we look for things and people with wizard in their in their titles?

I can't help but recall one of my favorite tv personalities from my youth and that was Mr. Wizard. Mr. Wizard was a science teacher named Don Herbert that used to perform all sorts of experiments on television that used to keep me glued to the screen. He must have had a large audience because after his retirement from years on television he was brought back. There was a show on television for a short time called The Wizard. It lasted only from 1986 to 1987. It was about a genius inventor who is a philanthropist and makes incredible toys and protects people from evil forces. Hey this show might hit it off today, it sounds like superhero stuff. In 1989 a film called The Wizard came out, it was about a very skilled video game player.

There are plenty of games that have Wizard in their title. The old Commodore 64 computer had a game called Wizard as did the Atari 2600. There was a Wizard board game released in 1978 and another Wizard board game released in 1982. Wizards of the Coast is the name of a game maker. There is a Wizard card game and Wizards in Dungeons & Dragons.

Many musical groups have adopted the name Wizard. A German metal band has named itself Wizard as had a band from Britain in the 1970s, but they spelled it Wizzard. A Dominican calypso singer named himself Wizzard. A pop duo calls themselves Wizardzz. Then there are songs with Wizard in their title and even a record company in Australia named Wizard. The Wizard is a Black Sabbath song and The Wizzard is a Uriah Heep song. There is an EP named The Wizard by Beto Vazques Infinity and the theme for the Top of the Pops in Britain was The Wizard. The second track on Spiritual Unity was The Wizard.

John Varley published a Science Fiction novel called Wizard. There was a British Comic called Wizard and the main character was Wilson of the Wizard. A magazine about comics was called Wizard and an anthology of short stories was called Wizards. It is beginning to look like Wizard is a very popular term doesn't it?

There are probably thousands of little known sports teams around the world that have the name Wizard in their title somewhere. A few in this country are the Dakota Wizards, Fort Wayne Wizards, Kansas City Wizards and Washington Wizards. Team Wizard Triathlon is a team from New Zealand. Team Wizard Fupa are a group of people from a gaming site. There are plenty of Team Wizards around on the net. There is a volley ball team named the Wizard of Booze.

Sometimes people are given nicknames that include Wizard in them. Ozzie Smith, a baseball player was named the Wizard. Thomas Edison was called the Wizard of Menlo Park. Jeff Farmer the football player was called the Wizard. Juan Quarterone the soccer player was called the Wizard, in Spanish it was El Brujo. An orator in New Zealand named Ian Brackenbury Channell was called the Wizard of New Zealand.

I am sure you have all heard the term pinball wizard. There is a game called Wizard's Chess. A dark spot on Neptune is sometimes referred to as The Wizard's Eye. A metal band from Japan is called Wizard's Hymn. There used to be a software company called WizardWorks Software. Wizard Clip is a name that is sometimes used for a town in West Virginia called Middleway. This was due to a legend about a dead traveler in the 1790s. Gerald FitzGerald was the 11^th Earl of Kildare and was also known as the Wizard Earl. Who could ever forget that great movie the Wizard of Oz? There was a musical movement that started in 2002 called Wizard rock and over 500 bands were part of it. A famous arcade game of the 1980s was the Wizard of Wor. A publisher formerly known as Wizard Press, changed their name to Wizard Entertainment.

As you can see, we may not believe in Wizards anymore, but the name Wizard seems to be more popular than ever.