August 18, 2004

What�s In A (Hyphenated) Name?

FROM THE PEACHTREE STATE comes simmering discussion over a proposal to add the Dooley name�and a hyphen�to UGA�s storied Sanford Stadium.

The proposed new name: Dooley-Sanford Stadium. There was no word on whether Sanford-Dooley Stadium was an option. Technically, this is would not really be a name change (which would connote replacing an old name with a new name). Rather, the proposal here is to add Dooley�s name to Sanford�s name.

In a recent poll by Atlanta polling firm Inside Advantage, 72% of respondents who said they are UGA fans favored the name change and 55% of all those surveyed said they support the name change. Opposed were only 17% and 15%, respectively. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percent.

Given such lopsided numbers, it would seem to be quite difficult to find many people opposed to the name change.

Not surprisingly, the ancestors of Steadman Sanford�a former UGA president for whom the stadium was named when it opened in 1929�were opposed to the idea. However, one would think that the awareness or popularity of Mr. Sanford comes nowhere close to that of the legendary Vince Dooley.

Another of the handful of people opposed to the name change is current UGA president Mike Adams. President Adams has made himself as unpopular in Georgia as Dooley is popular. The duplicitous president was quoted as saying, �I�m not much on hyphenated names.�

Give us a break, prez.

Significantly, the College Athletics Clips Venue Renaming Committee (among whose members NONE have ever set foot in Sanford Stadium) says that Georgians should be given what they want.

(this 261 word excerpt�with attendant commentary�was distilled from a 722 word article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of 8-18-04)