Post by TheShadow on Oct 9, 2008 18:57:22 GMT -5
www.insidebayarea.com
By Dave Newhouse
Oakland Tribune
What's in a name? Too many names if you're talking about America's sports stadiums, immersed in corporate sponsors and naming rights that change like theater marquees.
You need only look at the Bay Area to observe this naming and renaming malaise that has created a nauseating play-ball-or-else financial mentality from sea to shining sea.
The San Francisco Giants have played at Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park and AT&T Park — and it's the same ballpark. The Oakland A's have played at both Network Associates Coliseum and McAfee Coliseum — same stadium, and same company, which endured a name change itself.
One wonders how sports franchises survived for years and years with the names of their owners or teams — such as Yankee Stadium and Dodger Stadium, which, by the way, haven't succumbed to this corporate disease — fronting their facilities.
Here in Oakland, we're back to the original, awkward name of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which opened in 1966. That's because the company known as Network Associates, which entered into a 10-year, $13.2-million contract with the Coliseum in 1998, then changed its name to McAfee in 2004, decided Sept. 20 not to renew its naming rights.
Immediately, local politicos began bracing about finding a corporate sponsor to sign up before the next corporate sponsor comes along. It's become an endless, mindless search.
I've got a better idea. Let's rename the Coliseum the Jim Otto Coliseum.
For no athlete has meant more to Oakland, and given more to Oakland, than Otto: Mr. Raider.
And no Oakland athlete has sacrificed more physically than Otto, who's had more than 50 major surgeries, and roughly 20 replaceable body parts to his knees, shoulders and back. This is his lot in life after 15 ironman but injured seasons with the Oakland Raiders.
He's also had a half-dozen nearly fatal experiences from all his football-related surgeries, which eventually eliminated his body's immunity factor, thereby making it nearly impossible for him to ward off infection, and thus putting him at death's door in a heartbeat.
In August 2007, his right leg was amputated above the knee, the result of never missing a game with the Raiders — 210 straight — even though he should have sat out one season for sure with a knee that had major damage and would need reconstructive surgery afterward. Unbelievably, he was named All-Pro center once again that season.
Otto was an Original Raider, joining the fledgling franchise in 1960. And of all the Hall of Famers who played football and baseball at the Coliseum, only Otto and Fred Biletnikoff played their entire careers in Oakland.
Something else about Otto that makes him special is his personality. No one can remember a time when he blew off an autograph seeker or backed out on some East Bay cause. If he could stand up, he would show up. He was as gracious as he was great. Even today at 70.
Finally, no Oakland athlete ever promoted this city as vigorously as Otto. He truly believed Oakland gave him a successful life, made him into a millionaire businessman. If not for Oakland, and football, he said he would have become a welder in his native Wisconsin.
Otto owes Oakland, but Oakland owes Otto. And, besides, to enlist a new corporate sponsor for the Coliseum may not be as easy as before, what with the A's setting their sights on Fremont and the Raiders becoming the laughingstock of pro football.
So good luck to the city and county in finding a new corporate sucker. But why not do the right thing — just because it's the right thing to do — and name the Coliseum after Otto. Money is one thing, but memories last longer.
The pundits certainly would have a field day with the Jim Otto Coliseum, calling it "The JOC." Well, Otto was the ultimate jock.
And one other thing. If Oracle eventually drops its naming rights at the neighboring Arena, I've got the perfect name for the building: The Al Attles Arena. For Mr. Warrior.