Pinatubo wrote on Jun 1^st, 2013 at 3:04pm:

Excuse my ignorance, but why was it nicknamed "meatball"? Would be something related with the airline old logo shape on vertical stabilizer? Thanks.

Hello Pinatubo,
Yes "Meatball" nickname is related to the tail logo. Designed by Saul Bass and initially black (Robert F. Six era) it became red (during the Lorenzo era). Why ? I couldn't find a real statement why. Probably it looks like a flat meatball with a little bit of fantasy  :-/
I read a few articles and discussions about Continental before the paint so I could only repeat what you can find on the www. This is a link to one of the discussions I found:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/3591381/
happy reading, Lex