Or Cheap Ubiquity Coliseum. A trend in North American sports over the last decade to have corporate names usurp traditional names of venues - Candlestick Park became 3Com Park; Riverfront Stadium became Cinergy Field; Jack Murphy Stadium became... hell, I forget what it is this year. It makes its own screwy sense, since sports broadcasts have become ad-packed, even during the game - the "Bell Atlantic Call to the Bullpen", the "Advil Starting Lineups"...

The human scale is lost. We once identified with the name of a place - I know who Jack Murphy was, and why he (deservedly) had a ballpark named after him, and even Wrigley Field was more about a family than a chewing gum conglomerate. The new-style slapped-on corporate brand name and logo obliterates that humanity, often on the cheap; the money paid by Your Name Here is little more than enough to cover the salary of a mediocre athlete.

Many newer structures bypass the naming process completely, and have a corporate name attached from Day One, and it has even reached overseas, with football's Bolton Wanderers now playing in all-mod-cons Reebok Stadium.

Jack Murphy Stadium (in San Diego) became Qualcomm Stadium.

And the Giants have now ditched 3Com Park nee Candlestick Park, for the new PacBell Park.

And it just goes on and on. Here in Denver, we've already got Coors Field and the Pepsi Center, and now the city government wants to sell the naming rights to the new stadium that's being built to replace Mile High Stadium. This despite the fact that public opinion polls taken here indicate that a majority of people would rather pay a little extra in taxes and keep the name "Mile High Stadium" than see the name sold to Qwest or AT&T or some such. (Hey, maybe they could sell the naming rights to Snapple; then we could have the beverage trifecta in sports facilities! Bletch.).

I'm sorry. At some point a little civil disobedience is called for. That stadium in San Diego will always be "the Murph" in my heart. And if you referred to "the Stick" as "3Com Park" in my wife's presence, she'd be liable to sling something heavy your way. And, no matter what the politicians say is good for us, Mile High Stadium, and even its replacement, will always be Mile High Stadium to many of us here.

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