(Uhh)Necessary Evil

What's in a name, you say? What is going on with all the corporate sponsorships?! Eveything has a company name on it now. It's only a matter of time before Joe Robbie Stadium and Wrigley Field fall prey to the corporate raiders.

Okay, so we invite their investments to keep our costs down. Eventually it goes up. And forget about the concession stands. It's just like the movie theater. The ticket sales, just like the box office proceeds, go to the team (box office goes to film company). The stadium, like the theater, makes it's money at the concession stand. The hot dogs and sodas are their bread and butter. Wah Wah.

Unless you encounter a situation such as what we have here in San Francisco; namely PacBell Park. Even though it's currently SBC Park, and soon to be AT&T Park, I still call it PacBell Park. Why? Because it was PacBell that made the investment for construction. I'll be the first to admit they deserve to have their name on it.

But not SBC. Or AT&T, for that matter. Why? Because they bought PacBell, and subsequently, SBC? I think not. SBC and AT&T did not invest in it. But if you can't call it SBC or AT&T Park, what do you call it? PacBell no longer exists.

I even flipped out when my NASCAR Cup changed from Winston to Nextel. Of course, then I realized Winston was a sponsor as well. And a cigarette, no less. I guess I should be glad, since I'm a non-smoker.

So, we have to sorta live with the name changes every two years. I can't even remember what Candlestick Park was called, in between 3COM and Monster. I remember it was a DotCom company. And they went out of business 6 months after. And their name was on every cupholder in the park. All 35,000. I still call it the Stick, though.

That's all you have to remember, folks. Take the corporate money, and call it whatever you want. That's what's important.

Heyyyyy...batter batter batter batter batter, swing batter...
he cannot, he cannot, he cannot, a' swing batter...