A Perfectly Cromulent Blog

Wasn't that the title of a Janet Jackson album?

Jeez, I leave town for a week and we get the earth-shattering revelation of the name of Houston's MLS team. And it appears that every one of my suggestions was ignored. Figures.

The city's Major League Soccer team will be known as Houston 1836. The team colors will be white, orange and black.

The name's main reference is the year Houston was founded by John and Augustus Allen on the banks of Buffalo Bayou. It also marks the year Texas declared its independence from Mexico, the Battle of the Alamo and the defeat of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican army at the hands of General Sam Houston in the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution.

Uh oh. That's going to cause some problems...

By naming the team Houston 1836, the newly arrived Major League Soccer franchise has chosen to identify with a year that may divide the city rather than unite it. While the team intends to highlight Houston's founding along the banks of Buffalo Bayou, the year also commemorates the defeat of the Mexican Army by a largely Anglo Texan militia at the Battle of San Jacinto. Whether by ignorance or design, choosing 1836 has the potential to alienate Houstonians of Mexican origin, a group that is surely a large part of the team's fan base.

I understand Prof. Ramos' concern, really, but the fact that the year of Houston's founding coincides with Santa Ana's embarrassing ass kicking on the banks of the San Jacinto is merely an unfortunate coincidence.

Team officials state that 1836 was primarily chosen to represent the city's founding. A team name doesn't have the luxury of explaining itself. The link to Texas secession from Mexico during the Texas Revolution is inescapable

Uh, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but that's kind of one of the defining moments of the state's history. Certainly the majority of us would prefer to forget about introducing slavery and invading Mexico in 1846, as Ramos mentions in his article, but to try and shame people in Texas over declaring themselves a Republic after defeating one of the worst generals in history isn't going to amount to much.

Houston has undergone many transformations and reinventions since 1836. Digging the Ship Channel, the Galveston hurricane of 1900, discovering oil and sending a man to the moon all took place since then and all changed the face of the city. Naming the team 1836 smacks of nostalgia for a time when Mexican people were absent or at least knew their place.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explaind by stupidity, Prof. Ramos. The date of the city's founding was the easiest choice they could make. Of course, he's demonstrating his own insensitivities with his alternatives here. How many people were displaced by the digging of the Ship Channel? And why the hell would we name a team after the biggest natural disaster in our history? Why not just call them 2001? Allison was a pretty big deal, too.

Apparently 1900 isn't as insensitive because the people who died then were primarily Anglos.

Shit, why don't we just name the team after the year air conditioning was introduced? I think that's something we can all agree was a Good Thing.

The team has started its relationship with the Latino community off on the wrong foot. Short of changing the name, the team needs to make extra efforts to appear open to Latino Houstonians.

Only then, and by removing Sam Houston from the logo, will the team come to symbolize the promise of a global capital.

Here's how they're going to "appear open to Latino Houstonians:" they're going to take your money just like they take everyone else's. That's really the best indication that the Latino community has acheived a kind of parity here in Houston. Mexican-American Houstonians are going to pay exorbitant ticket prices and $7 for a beer at the concession stand, just like their Anglo brethren. Welcome to the Promised Land.