a hundred degrees

Building a Burning Bridge

Unless you live in Houston you probably haven't heard the new name of the Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise that relocated to that city this year.

There was a vote for the name on their official site. I saw the list once, but only briefly looked over it. When I returned to cast a vote, the poll had closed. Honestly, none of the names were all that appealing: Lonestars, Apollos, Toros, Generals.

My wife and I discussed it a little and she liked my suggestion of Supernovas. Later I recalled the "No va" problem Chevrolet experienced in Hispanic countries and thought that maybe the name would not appeal, except in an ironic sense (depending on the team's performance), to the many Hispanic fans that owners hope to fill seats at the games.

So I was a little surprised when they revealed the name Houston 1836.

Okay, I know this one is not the owners fault. Well, not entirely. They probably should have known better than to put the name on the list.

MLS is trying not to make the mistakes of the NASL but this is America and we are sometimes oblivious. We forget that our historical victories had losing sides. Britain seems mostly to be over it, but we're not trying to play basketball with England, so I'm sure that very few folks there give a whit about Philadelphia's hoopsters' nickname. MLS, however, should be working toward opportunites to play it's clubs with our international neighbors.

Now if you're a wilfully ignorant white boy, like me, you might think that the number of Mexicans flooding across our borders might say that they think the better side won at San Jacinto. That if they hold us any ill will, it is only that we haven't yet annexed their whole country and brought them up to the relatively wealthy level that is called poverty in this country.

My guess is that most of the voters just didn't think. A number representing the year of Houston's founding and Texas' independence sounded good. They probably didn't even think that it was Texas' independence from Mexico.

The votes may have been drawn simply by the pseudo-European style of the name. A number of German clubs have the year of their founding as part of their name. If you're going to go that way, then have the guts to do it right and use 2006.

I wish that MLS would have American style nicknames and mascots. It's not futbol here, its soccer. Let's have that be the part that appeals to middle America. But let's do the things that matter in the way that the international community does. Starting with one table. Why the heck should a twelve team league need divisions? The SPL could be a useful pattern.

And, you know, it's possible that the name won't offend most Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Many of them may be as oblivious as other history-light hard-working citizens. But you can be sure of whining from the educated and leisurely ones.

Posted to Games and Sport at February 2, 2006 7:33 AM