FOOTBALL commentator Dennis Cometti says the name of the 2006 AFL football champions, the West Coast Eagles, is "American crapola".
Cometti says that West Coast Eagles is a "dumb name'' and that the side should have been called the Perth Eagles.
I couldn't agree more. I've always hated regional appellations. I can't stand the "Texas" Rangers, or the "Golden State" Warriors. Teams should be named after the areas they are actually representing...like the Dallas Rangers, or the Minneapolis Twins, or the stinking, rat infested swamps of Jersey Devils.
Of course, the guy makes a good point and then has to flush said point right down the old toilet:
He said it was a travesty that no AFL side was named Perth, robbing the state of international exposure.
He said that at a time when WA's reputation was suffering nationally and internationally because of image and corruption problems, the state could have benefited by telling the world it had the nation's best football side.
International exposure? For Aussie rules? I hate to break it him, but the as for the extent of international exposure...if you are reading this that will pretty much be the extent of it. I don't think calling the team Perth Eagles would do all that much. It isn't as if everyone here in the states goes on and on about the Swans or something.
Cometti claimed that "privately'', the West Coast Eagles had acknowledged there was a problem with the club's name and had canvassed the idea of a change - claims strenuously denied by West Coast Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett.
He said yesterday that during his 18 years at the club, the Eagles had never discussed changing the name to Perth Eagles, or anything else, and he could not see that happening in the future.
"People who set up the club gave an enormous amount of thought to the name,'' he said.
"It encapsulates the whole of the state, from Esperance through to Wyndham. The club is for all West Australians, not just people from Perth.''
Mr Nisbett disagreed with Cometti's view that Perth Eagles would help sell the city and the state.
"Most people (overseas) don't even know where Perth is, let along the West Coast, so I don't know that it particularly makes any difference,'' he said.
Cometti, widely regarded as Australia's best football commentator, said Perth needed a bit more excitement.
"Generally, if you are looking for excitement in Perth, you are barking up the wrong tree,'' he said.
I know I'm just a dumb American, but I'd guess that the West Coast Eagles are located somewhere on Australia's West Coast.
But that is me...always going out on a limb.
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