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Don’t look now, but Albuquerque is making rumblings about angling for a major league franchise or two:
Look 10 or 15 years down the road. In a metropolitan area of, say, 700,000 to 750,000 people, will there be a push to move an NBA or NHL franchise to Albuquerque? It’s possible, perhaps even likely. Will one be here with an arena that seats only 10,000?
No way. A future mayor almost certainly would come back to Albuquerqueans and ask for their support in building a mega-facility. Our take is simple: Skip that step and build a major arena now.
Expect rampant cursing from the world of sport journalism should a big-league team land in New Mexico, and reporters constantly stumble over the spelling of “Albaquerque” “Albuquerque” (dammit!).
On the plus side, there are built-in rivalries with Dallas and Phoenix to consider. And for whichever sport gets there first, the team would just have to adopt the coolest geography-appropriate name possible: “Aztecs”.
There’s a Bugs Bunny joke in there somewhere, but I’m too tired.
Comment by David — 09/19/2006 @ 09:30:29 PM
Except the Aztecs were never in Albuquerque
You’d have to call them the Tewa. Or the Pueblos, though that term is no longer is favor.
I’d go for the Albuquerque Bombers, being the Los Alamos honk I am
Comment by tim in tampa — 09/20/2006 @ 10:32:24 AM
Well hell, they were never in San Diego either. And for that matter, the Trojans never actually made it to Southern California.
So some artistic license is being claimed, linked to the “Mexico” part of New Mexico. Besides, I seem to recall in my reading somewhere that the Aztecs’ forebears had migrated from what’s now New Mexico, so there’s a tentative connection. Also, among major pro franchises, it’s an unclaimed mascot name, so that makes it fresh.
Comment by CT — 09/20/2006 @ 11:05:48 AM