Saturday, February 10, 2007

Arsenal in Colorado

A former colleague e-mailed me yesterday about the Colorado Rapids' name change. In case you haven't heard, the Rapids have brokered a deal with Arsenal of England that will include a name change and it is likely to be something like Colorado Arsenal.

My buddy was in disbelief over the whole Arsenal name in Colorado, what with Columbine still fresh in people's minds there.

Can't say I disagree. Arsenal has nothing to do with what went down in Columbine but then again Dick's Sporting Goods has nothing to do with certain male genitalia. And though the latter makes you chuckle, the former might draw some rather unwanted reaction.

Let's just hope people aren't quick to jump to conclusions that aren't there. As a member of the media, you always have to consider how different things might be taken. I had a journalism professor once tell me to think dirty when considering headlines and the like because people might misconstrue something. Soon after that, my college paper editor wanted to run a headline "Softball team all wet at tournament" with a story that was about the softball team's canceled tournament due to rain, not their night out on the town.

Arsenal is associated with guns here, not soccer (at least from the general public). But let's just hope people can differentiate between soccer and something that isn't.

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