Sellouts

Epic Fail, Iowa Athletic Department. Epic, massive fail. Don't get me wrong: I understand that we're in the middle of a long awaited and much needed renovation to Carver Hawkeye Arena and you've got to massage the egos of the Big Money Peeps like Mediacom so they will, 'make it rain' and pass the Benjamins (and presumably the Courvoisier).

Yes kids, starting tomorrow night the court- the damn floor at Carver Hawkeye Arena will be known as Mediacom Court. For wrestling meets it will be known as... wait for it- Mediacom Mat. I hate this. I absolutely loathe, despite and detest this with every single fiber of my being. I mean, Mediacom? The money-crubbing corporate bandits that bend the citizenry of our fair metropolis over every month to extract their ridiculous cable prices? I mean, why not just piss all over everyone in town- I mean, like take a jug of urine and pour it all over out faces. Roy Carver Court- I could live with that. John Pappajohn, John Colloton, even Dr. Tom Davis Court-- all of which I would be totally fine with. A basketball court, especially the one at Carver Hawkeye Arena has seen a lot of history and has a ton and a half of tradition behind it- it deserves better than a pale corporate logo and the naming of this court should be reserved for truly deserving individuals, not corporations.

Part of the reason I love Iowa sports- of all kinds, is that we have, thus far, seemingly resisted selling out to corporate donors and giving away naming rights. If we would have renamed Kinnick Stadium 'Mediacom Stadium' for instance, then all hell would have broken loose. We're not TCF Bank Stadium- we're Iowa. We have history and tradition in our athletics that is worthy of respect and I know I for one think that naming the court at Carver Hawkeye, if you have to do it at all, should be reserved for individuals who have made an impact and have a legacy at Carver, not corporations.

I detest pale, corporate plastic names for anything. It cheapens the sports that so many people, myself included love and in the fiscal realities Universities and professional leagues face today, it may well be a sad inevitability, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Not one bit.