Naming Rights
My second column for Spec, way back in 1999, decried the incessant corporate naming of stadia and bowl games. This is no longer an issue that rankles me, as I believe pro sports should sell everything not nailed down in the vain hope that it would drag the inflation of ticket prices. I realize that is not a reasonable hope, but that's me.
Anyway, according to USA Today, naming opportunities for people have run amok across the countries. Politicians are treating bridges like political candy, naming things after random people just because they can. This more than Republican pols trying to slap Ronald Reagan's name on everything just because it infuriates left-wingers. I'm shocked more air traffic control towers haven't been named for him, just to rub it in. In Davis, the name of a new junior high was a hot political topic. One of the rules was that it had to be named after someone already dead. They ended up naming it after Frances Harper, someone who was completely ignored in my 12 years of Detroit's Black History Month celebrations.
The corporate names can sometime get ridiculous. There is the proliferation of Fifth-Third Parks around the Midwest, a poorly conceived name for a stadium that comes from the poorly conceived name for a bank. My favorite has always been the Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl.
Anyway, according to USA Today, naming opportunities for people have run amok across the countries. Politicians are treating bridges like political candy, naming things after random people just because they can. This more than Republican pols trying to slap Ronald Reagan's name on everything just because it infuriates left-wingers. I'm shocked more air traffic control towers haven't been named for him, just to rub it in. In Davis, the name of a new junior high was a hot political topic. One of the rules was that it had to be named after someone already dead. They ended up naming it after Frances Harper, someone who was completely ignored in my 12 years of Detroit's Black History Month celebrations.
The corporate names can sometime get ridiculous. There is the proliferation of Fifth-Third Parks around the Midwest, a poorly conceived name for a stadium that comes from the poorly conceived name for a bank. My favorite has always been the Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl.
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