There are bad ideas, and then there are really bad ideas. Today I'd like to focus on the really bad variety. From NewsOK.com:
The Oklahoma City RedHawks hosted a news conference Wednesday to announce RedHawks Field in Bricktown has been renamed after a casino.
Sources told The Oklahoman the team's owner, Los Angeles-based Mandalay Sports Entertainment, sold the ballpark's naming rights for an undisclosed sum to the Newcastle Casino. The new name is Newcastle Field at Bricktown.
You know, this wouldn't be that bad of an idea if the word "casino" was replaced by "brown ale," but unfortunately that's not the case. Bricktown's crown jewel really is named after a smokey Indian casino in Newcastle, Oklahoma. I bet Mickey Mantle's liver just rolled in its grave.
Seriously, how in the world was this bad idea approved? I don't have a problem with the ballpark being named after a casino. It's not like AT&T Ballpark was anything special. In fact, Riverwind Field or Winstar Ballpark actually sounds kind of cool. But why'd they pick this casino? It's named after another town! Was there not one person at Ackerman who stood up and said "Uhm, should we really put another city's name on a ballpark that was paid for with Oklahoma City tax dollars?" I doubt it, because the obvious answer would have been, "No."
Anyway, let's just hope the name is the only thing that changes. They'll probably try to add black jack tables to the upper terrace and bring in new statues that show all the old players playing slot machines instead of swinging the bat. Free soda would be nice, though. Who doesn't like free soda?
Update: Six hours after we published this post was published the Chickasaw nation announced the ballpark will no longer be named after Newcastle Casino. It will now be called Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. I'm totally fine with. Thanks to the Chickasaw Nation, The Redhawks and common sense for getting this worked out.
