Shark Life stadium.

Dolphin Stadium, nee Land Shark Stadium, nee Dolphin Stadium, nee Dolphins Stadium, nee Pro Player Stadium, nee Pro Player Park, nee Joe Robbie Stadium

As someone who speaks French, I find this hard to understand...

As someone who speaks French, I find this hard to understand...

It's mostly English.

As someone who speaks French, I find this hard to understand...

The stadium has been born again. Several times.

So Sun Life actually succeeded in naming something in Florida after them. They'd had more than one commercial chronicling their failed attempts on that score..

As someone who speaks French, I find this hard to understand...

Yeah, I was gonna say:
"This is nitpicking, but I don't think the author fully understands what "nee" means (even in English)."

It's Dolphin stadium to me. I call ballparks whatever I want and do not respect corporate naming rights. Unless they cut me in on the deal.

DAVID BROWN: "Dolphin Stadium, nee Land Shark Stadium, nee Dolphin Stadium, nee Dolphins Stadium, nee Pro Player Stadium, nee Pro Player Park, nee Joe Robbie Stadium is now ..."

It was née (which means born) Joe Robbie. All of the other uses of née in that sentence are, pardon my French, incorrect.

I don't doubt that he understands the word's meaning, but it didn't occur to him that people on their third marriage use only one née rather than three. But should we necessarily treat the stadium as feminine? Maybe it's "Sun Life né Joe Robbie Stadium"?

Stadiums are feminine. Obelisks are masculine.

I don't doubt that he understands the word's meaning, but it didn't occur to him that people on their third marriage use only one née rather than three."

I doubt that he understands the word's meaning. Until yesterday, I thought née meant either "a woman's maiden name" or "someone's former name". I admit that I'm ignorant. But no more ignorant that most sportswriters. And really, other than Montreal, Toussaint L'ouverture and (to a much lesser extent) Jean Reno, what has France ever given to the world?

I refer to stadia on a purely subjective basis. (Shocking, I know.) The Marlins play in Joe Robbie Stadium, the A's in the Coliseum, the Giants at China Basin Park, the Angels at L'Angel Stadium. With the new stadia I'm much more accepting of the original names like Safeco, Camden Yards and PNC. Still, the Astros' park will be The Juicebox to me, no matter what.

Stadiums are feminine. Obelisks are masculine."

No no no. This is English, not Latin or Spanish. Inanimate objects are gender neutral. This goes for ships too. Look, sailors, I know how much you'd like your seamen to ride a female for months, but your ship is an it, not a her.

Now that the rum is wearing off I realize that you're probably joking, Rich. But still: in English, the Washington Monument is gender neutral, and so is the Grand Cañon.

Maybe the author is one of The Knights Who Misspell "Ni."

Stadiums are feminine.

Especially the one in Milwaukee.

Everyone just calls it Joe Robbie or Pro Player. I don't think I've ever heard an actual fan say "Dolphin(s) Stadium."

It's funny: It was one of the first corporate stadiums with the name "Pro Player." Then several years went by and what with all the AT&T;Parks, Minute Maid Parts, PNC Parks, etc., Pro Player sounded downright regal in comparison.

It's Dolphin stadium to me. I call ballparks whatever I want and do not respect corporate naming rights. Unless they cut me in on the deal.

Amen, the Giants always played at Candlestick and Pac Bell Park. No 3Com, SBC or AT&T;for me.

"The House That Conine Built"

"The House That Conine Built"

I hope they've got a ring of honor set up at the new park for Jeff C. and...um...Joe Robbie.* Those two.

*Robbie built Pro Player to be baseball-configurable with the intention of starting a team.

There goes that trivia question, name the four MLB parks named for beers. Most people didn't know that stadium in South Florida's name or that it was named for a beer. Now it's name the four MLB parks named for insurance companies. Cincinnati, Cleveland and Seattle are the others, right? It looks like a plurality (6) are named for the home team's nickname still.

It's Dolphin stadium to me. I call ballparks whatever I want and do not respect corporate naming rights

Me too. F*** the banks and insurance companies.

Look, sailors, I know how much you'd like your seamen to ride a female for months, but your ship is an it, not a her.

And then you end up with sentences like,"The Ronald Reagan, she's a beautiful ship."

Ha.
Everybody knows there is no life on the sun. It's too hot. Even at night.

It's Dolphin stadium to me. I call ballparks whatever I want and do not respect corporate naming rights

Me too. F*** the banks and insurance companies.

And the Cable companies. #### them most of all.

My first exposure to Joe Robbie was the 1989 Super Bowl. I watched that game far more times than is healthy, and so heard it called "Joe Robbie" many times. I can't imagine calling it anything else.

I originally called the Giants' new park China Basin. After many blank stares and condescending comments, I began calling it Pac Bell. It changed names in '03, and I went back to calling it China Basin. When I left ('06) no one but the papers were calling it AT & T Park. There must be several other cases like this. I'd guess that unless a company buys the naming rights for 5+ years, the fans will call the park whatever they used to call it before those naming rights were bought.

And the News!

EDIT: Whoops.

I think an interesting test of the corporate naming phenomenon will be the really tall building which is now finally rising from Ground Zero in NYC. Most of you probably don't realize that its name is no longer "Freedom Tower," but early last year the evil scumbag developer (I won't dignify him with a last name) announced that henceforth (and presumably until a giant-corporation-to-be-named-later pays him shitloads of money to name it something else), it would be known as "World Trade Center Building 1". So the test will be whether people will commonly use a name, "Freedom Tower", by which the building was never formally known in favor of the name of whatever corporation pays Silverstein (oops!) his blood money.

Look, sailors, I know how much you'd like your seamen to ride a female for months, but your ship is an it, not a her.

Clearly you've never felt the exhiliration of taking a swift and weatherly frigate into battle, with all her weight of broadside metal trained on the enemy and a fine breeze to leeward. No one could call his ship an "it," having become endeared to such a plum.