MLS made their surrender to the forces of political correctness official today, when they unveiled yet another name for the newly relocated Houston franchise. From now on, the former San Jose Clash/Earthquakes, so recently known as Houston 1836, will now be called the Houston Dynamo.
For the corporatized happy talk bilge being pumped out by the folks running the team, click here:
The scientific genius behind the dynamo's invention is the rotation of a single magnet, whose North and South poles create electricity in a nearby coiled wire. "We believe a parallel can be drawn to the two major communities in Houston: English speakers and Spanish speakers, who together will create electricity at games unlike any other in MLS," said [Houston GM and President Oliver] Luck.
Had the folks in Houston chosen Dynmao in the first place, which after all is more than appropriate for a team that calls the city that's the center of the American energy industry home, I wouldn't have much quibbled with the choice. Disappointed? Yes. But annoyed? No, not at all.
And we ought to thank Jamie Trecker of Fox Sports for reminding us that the name Dynamo doesn't exactly have a positive connotation in the world of international Soccer:
The name, of course, has another long-standing meaning for European football fans: In Soviet times, the name "Dynamo" was given to teams fielded by police and secret police departments. Dinamo Bucharest was formed in 1948 by the government to represent the police force; Dynamo Berlin were sponsored by the hated Stasi of East Germany.
So giving a team a name that evokes an important date not only in Texas, but also American history is offensive, while a name that evokes an ideology that murdered millions and reminds us all of the state apparatus that oppressed millions more is just fine.
Please know that my tounge is planted firmly in my cheek at this point, as that latter reference to dynamo is less than meaningless in an American cultural context. In fact, part of me is surprised that I'm as angered by this whole episode as I have been. After all, I was born and raised better than 1,000 miles from Texas, and have no ancestral ties to that area of the country whatsoever.
But when you say that the name Houston 1836 is offensive, we're really only a half step away from saying that the name Houston itself -- which after all, honors the name of the man who helped lead the rebellion that created the Texas Republic in the first place -- is something to be ashamed of as well.
In a way, it's like somebody saying that Lexington and Concord 1775 is offensive. And if you don't think that 1836 is as important a date in U.S. history as well, then you're just fooling yourself.
I’m a little less upset than I was–I’m just glad they picked a real soccer name (contra the Fox Sports guy, the most famous Dynamo is Dynamo Kiev–the ones who got sent to a concentration camp in World War II after beating a myriad of German armed forces soccer teams.)
And, I mean, Eric–you’re a free market guy. This appears to be the free market in action: Hispanics are soccer fans. Hispanics consider Texas’ succession as a humiliation. If you want to sell tickets to soccer fans, you shouldn’t name your team something that’s going to offend them right off the bat. Now, I suspect it isn’t as cut and dried as what I just said, and that there’s quite a bit of activism going on here and there’s plenty of Hispanic soccer fans couldn’t care less about 1836. But if you know your fanbase is from-Mexico Mexicans (and I guess that’s what MLS thinks) then it would help to be a little less clueless about their sensibilities.
You’ll also be interested to know that the league is about to announce the sale of the Metrostars to Red Bull, the enery drink purveyor.
I have my thoughts here:
http://www.oscarm.org/news/soccer/553.php