THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512210012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Strike one: When the powers that be decided to come up with a name for Tidewater, they ignored what was best and what had already been chosen by the people and named us after a small body of water nobody knew except a few die-hard history fans in Tidewater. Proof of the people's choice was a phone book from the year the choice was made. There were at least 10 listings of Tidewater to every one of Hampton Roads.
Tidewater was and still is the only perfect name for this area. People all over America still know this area as Tidewater in spite of 10 years or so effort to change that. Just as the boroughs of New York City are just as famous in name as the city, so too could the cities of Tidewater never lose their identity.
Strike two: When the powers that be decided to come up with a name for a new ocean-theme attraction, instead of going with a name that had been advertised around the world for more than 400 years, Jacques Cousteau, they went with Nauticus. Now there's a name for you. I bet if I go to Japan and tell them they need to come to Tidewater to see Nauticus, I'll get stampeded by the rush to get to the airport. Whereas if I told them that the world-famous Jacques Cousteau Society headquarters was in this building and that constantly on display in some part of the building were exhibits from his latest voyages, that would truly be a draw.
What does it cost to buy 40 years of advertising so it's a household word? One billion dollars would be a conservative estimate, yet our genius leaders passed on that for the name Nauticus. It doesn't matter what Mr. Cousteau wanted in return; it would have been the deal of the century at any price.
Strike three: This strike hasn't happened yet, but it's about to. If we go for Canadian football over the NFL, strike three! We're out. The Admirals and the Tides have proved that the curse of nonsupport for sports is over, so why waste our time on a league of has-beens who couldn't make it in the NFL? There's no doubt they would all be playing in the NFL if they could, maybe minus five players max, and why invest all that money in so few marque players.
Why the NFL over the NBA or MLB? Money! A football stadium would be the cheapest to build, and there are only eight regular-season games. Let's face it. It would be a whole lot easier to get fans to buy eight tickets than 40 for basketball or 80 for baseball. Plus, we could build the stadium where when the population base reaches 2 million, it could be converted to handle baseball and we'd get double use out of the stadium.
Now is the time. One year ago this wouldn't have been possible, and one year from now it might be impossible again if the NFL wins the lawsuits it has to stop teams from moving. But right now a lot of teams want to move, and we are out if we don't do something. Let's not strike out!
ROCCO J. DELAURI
Chesapeake, Dec. 7, 1995 by CNB