The headline on the MLS release: "MLS Seattle Takes Lead with Democracy in Sports."
The news: Fans will get to vote from among three names for the new MLS franchise.
The cold reality: Just like real democracy, if you don't like your choices, too f***ing bad.
The team, and their marketing minions, have chosen three names. You will pick from among those.
The names are rumored to be: Seattle Alliance, Seattle Republic, and Seattle FC.
Conspicuously missing is the name "Sounders", which has been the name of a Seattle soccer team in some form since 1974. "When Seattle MLS asked for team name suggestions after the expansion announcement," Emerald City Supporters emailed me today, "60% and more of the respondents wanted some form of the 'Sounders' name."
If you think of that poll as the primary, this is the equivalent of Democratic primary voters being told that Obama and Clinton are off the ballot, they'll have to pick from among Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, and Tipper Gore.
MLS commissioner Don Garber gave this reasoning for preventing fans from choosing Sounders: "We believe the MLS Seattle team should be about where we are headed tomorrow and help position the club globally."
What's clear is that the franchise knows that Sounders would win, and so they aren't putting it on the ballot, as if it were the Lyndon LaRouche of names.
Now--the USL team is already named the Sounders...maybe they want to keep that name and move to Kent or something, and have the name help them market the team? I'm not sure. If that's the case, I wish they'd just come out and say it.
I'm not really buying the "position the club globally" business. The New York Yankees have an 80-year-old name that connotes civil war, it hasn't seemed to hurt them globally. Likewise the Los Angeles Lakers, whose name is practically a non sequitur, as it was coined when the franchise was in Minnesota.
It all reminds me of a quote by everyone's favorite fictional newscaster, Kent Brockman.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: Democracy just doesn't work."
Friday, March 21, 2008
Soccer Democracy Just Like Real Democracy
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7 comments:
Could those team names be any more generic or uninspired?
I had friends growing up on "select" teams with the same names.
i hate the generic "euro" names. also, FC shouldn't even be an option. i mean, it's the MLS, the S being for soccer....so don't be the seattle football/futbol club of major league SOCCER. pick one. are we gonna call it soccer or football? hell, Seattle SC is fine with me (though not as cool as Seattle Beardogs)
What the f**K happened to "Seattle Manbearpigs"?
It's a damned dictatorship, is what it is.
Sounders is the only way to go. Wtf. They don't need to have a vote. Just go with sounders if it's what 60%+ people want. Geez.
Here is the entire statement released by the Emerald City Supporters:
We, the Emerald City Supporters, lament the fact that the new Seattle MLS team will not carry the "Sounders" name. We feel that the name is entwined with the soccer "soul" of the region. It is a representation of the Puget Sound area and an expression of Seattle's imprint on the world's game. Furthermore, we feel that it is by recognizing the past that helps move us toward the future. When Seattle MLS asked for team name suggestions after the expansion announcement, 60% and more of the respondents wanted some form of the "Sounders" name. If the team name vote is to be the decision of the fans, why is "Sounders" not on the list?
While we will support the new team regardless of name, we will also still lobby the front office to officially change the name to "Seattle Sounders." Please join us and let the front office know your position as well. If the Fans and Supporters are loud enough, the hope is the front office will come to share in our dream- Seattle Sounders, MLSCup Champions!!!
Thank you.
Although I love the name "Sounders," I can deal with that not being the choice. However, the choices given are horrendous. "Republic" and "Alliance?" What are we, Star Wars geeks? Seattle F.C. is fine, but apparently the MLS doesn't like it.
Hey, the fans can always call the team the Sounders.
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