Name game

William Buckley was asked once if he had trouble writing newspaper columns on a regular basis. No, he said, he got annoyed at least three times a week.

Me, I got annoyed just the other day. The subject was the name of the stadium where the Super Bowl will be played on Sunday. It's going from Land Shark Stadium to Sun Life Stadium, as of Sunday. This stadium used to be known as Joe Robbie Stadium and Dolphins Stadium, and I'm probably missing three or four other names off the top of my head.

Now, I'm of two minds when it comes to stadium names. As a sports fan, the idea of selling naming rights still comes across as a little tacky, even though they've been doing it since I was in high school.

However, the taxpayer and football fan in my has other ideas. Here in Buffalo, the stadium is named after owner Ralph Wilson. The building was called Rich Stadium when it was built in 1973, and it stayed that way for 25 years. Rich Products bought the rights to it. Bob Rich was quoted in the Wall Street Journal the other day, saying that the Bills tried to bury the name during that era -- surprising since it wasn't a case of renaming the Louvre.

If the naming rights were sold now, they certainly would generate some income. I'm not sure under the current lease where the money would go. Would it land in the county's accounting department? It's fair to say Erie County could use some extra dollars without providing any services for it.

And if the money went to the Bills, that would be money that could close the revenue gap between the Bills and the big-market teams of the National Football League. Maybe an extra million dollars could get the Bills a starter somewhere and make the team more competitive.

Either way, it's left me ... annoyed.

Women and children last

Here's a little tip for the football fans of Western New York: Attending a Buffalo Bills' game in Ralph Wilson Stadium is not for the faint of heart.

Particularly when the New York Giants are in town.

Let's start with the disclaimers. It was a miserable day, squared. The temperature went from 53 to 35 during the game, and it at least drizzled and sometimes poured. There was virtually no way to stay dry. A moment of silence, please, for my gloves. With the home team eventually losing, no local fan was going to have a great time.

Then there's the tailgating/alcohol issues. I think I wrote last year about how the parking lots at the Ralph look a little like an Iraqi city after a game, with empties and broken glass scattered about the grounds. Driving out of there is not for the faint of heart most days. In the stands, this week there was a steady stream of fans carrying $8 beers back to their seats (and how can they afford them?).

However, the games I attended in 2006 were fine once I got in the gate. My group and I sat down and watched the game in a relatively civilized, dignified manner. That's perhaps because the Titans and Jaguars don't bring bunches of fans with them.

Well, that sure didn't happen Sunday against Giants. Whew. There was a constant stream of bad language directed at the Giants, often about the personal habits of Eli Manning. New York had a good supply of its own fans at the game; they were easy to pick out since they were wearing Giants' jerseys. There was some less-than-clever, back-and-forth conversation between the Giants and Bills' fans.

At one point at halftime, a Bills' fan yelled at a Giants' fan wearing a Lawrence Taylor jersey, "Hey, why don't you wear a shirt from this decade at least? That's so 1980's." The Giants fan replied, "Nice franchise you've got here. And how many rings do you have?" Add a few bad words in the midst of the conversation, and you'll get the idea.

Here's the catch. I was sitting in seats owned by a season-ticket holder of at least 30 years. In other words, this was not the end zone where fans were a little more likely to be single-game ticket holders who were just there for a party. I should have been surrounded by people who were veteran fans. It was almost a surprise there were no fights, although an usher had to come down to break up a shouting match.

One friend of mine brought two teenage girls to the game. When he told two fans behind him to watch the language because of the kids, he got, as he put it, "some lip" for his trouble. I've heard all sorts of profanity over the years, so I'm at least used to it even if my vocabulary is close to squeaky-clean. But this was as bad as I've heard at a sporting event.

I'm glad I didn't bring any kids to the game, and I'm glad I didn't bring my wife to the game. And that's not a particularly good sign about a sporting event that's features the sale of tickets to all the general public.