The professional sensitives don't like Houston 1836
Well, according to the New York Times, Hispanics are outraged by the name Houston 1836:
Many Latinos in Houston, though, greeted the unveiling of the team's name this week with a shudder. Eighteen thirty-six also happens to be the year that a group of English-speaking interlopers waged a war of secession that resulted in Mexico's loss of Texas, ushering in more than a century of violence and discrimination against Mexicans in the state.
In fact, the team's owner, the Anschutz Entertainment Group of Los Angeles, appears to have upset some of the very soccer-crazy fans they were hoping to lure, after basing its venture in part on the crowds of Spanish-speaking fútbol aficionados who regularly fill stadiums here to attend the matches of visiting clubs from Mexico. Marisabel Muñoz, a spokeswoman for Major League Soccer in New York, which is controlled in part by Anschutz, declined to comment.
"Clearly, not enough homework was put into this," said Paco Bendaña, a prominent Houston-based authority on marketing to Latinos. "Historically speaking, 1836 is not something we celebrate."
[snip]
The announcement of the name on Wednesday quickly elicited strong reactions among Latino soccer followers. Carlos Puig, the editor of Rumbo de Houston, one of the city's Spanish-language daily newspapers, said his e-mail inbox filled with messages from readers "going crazy with the name."
Rumbo lambasted the name on its front page on Thursday, describing the choice as an "own goal," a soccer term for the occasion when a player inadvertently kicks the ball into his own goal, scoring a point for the opposing team. Rumbo also questioned whether the name would attract fans among Latinos, who account for more than 40 percent of Houston's population.
[snip]
Some in Houston were quick to defend the team's name, including one participant in a soccer blog carried on the Web site of The Houston Chronicle who identified himself as Mexican-American and told critics of the name to "give me a break and stop being so politically correct."
Amen! Those who are so easily offended by EVERYTHING (that includes the New York Times) need to get a life.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/27/06 07:20 AM | Print |
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