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Tuesday, February 04, 2003 |
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US Cellular Field? I am not a Chicago White Sox fan, nevertheless I am proud that Chicago boasts two major league baseball teams with storied traditions. I am having a hard time accepting the decision to rename Comiskey Park to US Cellular Field. These corporate-sponsored names are bad enough when applied to new stadiums. They lack emotion. They lack depth. They lack character. Enron Field (since renamed) does not instill a sense of awe in me. Nor does PacBell Park, Allstate Arena, or the United Center. These are big, faceless companies. They have done everything they can to avoid any responsibility to society. They exist simply to make money. Some of them are in trouble with the law, some are in trouble with their investors. Few are truly models of morality, strong character, and citizenship.
I never knew Charles Comiskey; he died in 1931 - 28 years before I was even born. History records he was more focused on his own greed and profit than the community his product served. In retrospect he probably does not deserve to have the stadium named after him, but aren't there others that do? Certainly somebody is more deserving than US Cellular.
When I walked into Wrigley Field, or saw a game at Jack Murphy Stadium, Jacob's Field, Candlestick Park, or the old Metropolitan Stadium I experienced a sense of awe, a sense of tradition. These places were named with good reason and not simply given to the highest bidder. The names memorialized someone, or something, that once was. They reminded me of those that have walked before me. They were, in short, inspirational in a way that corporate-sponsored names are not and should not be.
There are some exceptions, of course. Auggie Busch owns the St. Louis Cardinals and the stadium. I guess it is OK for the stadium to share his name. Somehow the Milwaukee Brewers and Miller Beer just go together even if there is no other relationship between the two. Ditto with Coors Field. I just learned the Kansas City Royals are bucking the trend; they renamed Royals Stadium to Kaufman Stadium in honor of the team's first owner. Laurels to KC. Darts to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. 1:51:40 PM 
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O'Reilly: Using the .NET CodeDOM O'Reilly has an interesting article on using the .NET CodeDOM to describe a program in a language-neutral fashion, then generate the actual code in any desired language. This might be useful for defining a business rules language and providing our clients with some visual means for constructing rules, then generating the appropriate code behind the scenes. 10:24:43 AM
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A Space Elevator? I had read about these in books by Arthur C. Clarke and Kim Stanley Robinson, but had no idea anybody was actively pursuing the idea as a viable technology. It appears HighLift Systems is doing just that. Their proposal to NASA (I think this is a simplified version) is fascinating to read. I am not a scientist so I have no clue if this is viable or not. Still, it is a very interesting idea. 10:18:10 AM
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