I have a lot of balls to post this picture…
It’s time to dig through the tampon box full of embarrassing old photos to find some more visual diarrhea for this week’s Picture Day Wednesday post! Yesterday, fellow blogger Marilyn responded to a Daily Prompt for the word “quicken” with a tongue in cheek accusation that WordPress was trying to get its bloggers to subliminally advertise for one of its sponsors since it is that most wonderful time of the year in America we like to call tax season, and Quicken is known for its tax software. Reading it reminded me that the basketball arena in Cleveland was named after Quicken Loans. Actually, that’s a bit misleading…. it’s named Quicken Loans Arena because Quicken put out lots and lots of cash to have the stadium bear its corporate brand…
If Quicken Loans knew what kind of entertainment was being provided there, they might demand their money back…
Both of the photos above were taken by my old, shitty camera when I visited Cleveland back in September 2009. Quicken Loans Arena is just a cornholing toss across the way from Jacobs Field, where I watched the Indians get slaughtered twice by the Detroit Tigers on my trip….
Oh, wait. Did I say Jacobs Field? Sigh…..
This is why Progressive Insurance can’t afford to replace Flo with someone less annoying…
When the Indians’ new ballpark opened in 1994, it was named for then-owner Richard Jacobs, who presided over the team’s decade-long resurgence as one of the powerhouses of the American League. By 2008, the luster had worn off and the Indians became just another struggling small market franchise that was strapped for cash… so they sold their soul to Satan himself and allowed a major insurance company to replace the former owner’s name with their own. It’s probably no coincidence that Richard Jacobs died just a year after his beloved ballpark suddenly became Flo Field…
Charlie Comiskey can sympathize…
No, that photo (not mine) is no joke. After 13 years as New Comiskey Park, and 13 more as US Cellular Field… the home of the Chicago White Sox will bear one of the most horrific corporate naming rights monikers ever this coming season…. Guaranteed Rate Field. Complete with the downward pointing arrow to show where the rebuilding Sox will be found in the 2017 standings. There is officially no longer any shame among professional sports owners when it comes to what they will rent out advertising space on to keep the profits up….
Shame on those who ruin the purity of things with shameless advertising! Oh, BTW, you have 24 hours to make a creation!
I’ll be back next Wednesday with my latest pitch…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I don’t care what they call it or how much a sponsor pays for the ‘right’ (Sports Authority, the last sponsor had their name in ginormous letters-blech-no wonder they went belly up), it will always be Mile High Stadium where the magic happens. Come to think of it I’m not that fond of Coors Field where the Rockies play either but maybe that’s because the team sucks. 🙂 GOOOOOO TEAM
Corporate names are for the official references… the fans will always call it by its real name! I largely ignored all those late 90’s stadium name changes in baseball, but most of the parks now have only been known by a corporate name. Interestingly enough, there have been three “Busch Stadiums” in St. Louis…. but only the first two were named for former owner Augustus Busch (Which is why the word “Memorial” was contained in each park’s official name). The current iteration of our ballyard was a naming rights deal… and in a bit of an upset, when the brewery bought said rights, they went with fan sympathy rather than using their power to name the park Budweiser Stadium or some such nonsense. Or hey, they could call it InBev Field! That would be lovely…. not!
LOL The excessive money deals is corrupting sports everywhere. Some of us actually like sports, not the corporate sponsorships and nonsense that goes with it all. And don’t get me started on the 187 bowl games in college football. 😉
it’s the same here… we had an aol-arena an whatnot. the funniest thing is in netherlands they have a brainwash stadium (sponsor is a hairstyle chain )
Brainwash Stadium is classic! Almost as great as Citi Field, which is often said using another word that rhymes with Citi!
They’ve done the same with sports fields in the UK too. Names which have persisted for hundreds of years are suddenly replaced with “The Acme (Trade Mark) Toilet Cleaner Stadium of Millennium Lights”.
Snot Tissue Emporium Stadium!!
Do you know how long it’s taken me to stop saying “The Q”?
The American Big Wigs have no shame!
I hate these corporate names for fields! We’ve got Safeco Field, Key Arena and I can’t think of what the Seahawks stadium is called but it’s some business name too. Stupid! And since Safeco and the football stadium are new, they never had a real name.
OMG that is a HORRIBLE name. We had “Sleep Train Arena” for a while. Now we have “Golden 1 Arena” which is a lot better. I hate the whole corporate name on the arena thing. I can just imagine some new names, “Snap Chat Arena,” “Tampax Arena,” “Viagra Arena.” I’d prefer a beer name because it would at least be honest.
You know, I remember reading this, then I got swept away by an endless wash of stuff I had to do to my computer and I never actually SAID anything. I don’t remember what I wanted to say, either, except thank you for the jabber jabber and aren’t we glad they aren’t going into baseball strike mode and Garry was actually watching something on TV that I could have sworn looked like baseball. Of course, it could have been a rerun, but I’m betting they have some pre-game things happening. Lord knows we NEED those games.
Actually, I think I was looking for your cartoon and realizing it isn’t here yet, but I wanted to check and make sure the WP wasn’t messing with me again. See y’later, Gator!
OH, right. Ball park names. I think if they tried that here, there would be outright rioting on the streets. Violence. Senseless violence or in this case, quite possible SENSIBLE violence!
Thankfully, (unless I’ve been asleep), the Orioles still play at Oriole Park at Camden Yards (or Camden Yards as most of us call it). The Ravens, unfortunately, do play at M&T Bank Stadium (or what some fans have started calling it, “The Bank”). I haven’t heard many if any people call it Ravens Stadium (if indeed that is/was the name of it).
I guess that’s one thing that can be said for Peter Angelos, he hasn’t sold out the stadium’s name yet.