THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 19, 1995 TAG: 9511190469
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
OK, the Pirates are here. No longer can we call them the Shreveport Pirates because, for better or worse, they're ours. They've opened an office in Virginia Beach, they're selling tickets and they're gonna play at Foreman Field in 1996.
So tell us, Lonie Glieberman, what do we call them? Are they the Hampton Roads Pirates, the Norfolk Pirates or the Virginia Pirates? Will you go for something a little sexier, such as the Chesapeake Bay Pirates, or dumber, such as Tidewater?
What do we call our team?
``We will look to the community for the answer to that question,'' the Pirates president said.
That's what I was afraid of. Might as well hold onto that Shreveport stationary for a while, Lonie, because you've asked the region to answer a question it's been unable to answer for three decades.
We are the nation's largest metropolitan area without a major sports franchise. Perhaps that's in part because we're also the nation's largest without a name. We simply don't know what to call ourselves.
In the 50s, when I was a child growing up in old Princess Anne County, we all knew where we lived. We lived in Norfolk, even if it was 5 miles away. Just as residents of Henrico and Chesterfield counties call themselves Richmonders, we were Norfolkians. We had an identity.
Our problems began in 1963, when a series of five mergers began between cities and counties that led the Norfolk metropolitan area to become a nameless region.
Norfolk had been the region's giant in 1962. A few years later, the area had seven major cities, including Virginia Beach, destined to become the state's largest.
Hence, for about two decades, we more or less adopted the moniker ``Tidewater,'' largely at the behest of the late Bill Cox, then sports editor of The Virginian-Pilot. Nice name, but it wasn't really descriptive, since Tidewater actually includes territory north of Richmond.
Finally, about 12 years ago, regional leaders came up with the bright idea of calling the area ``Hampton Roads.'' That's the name of our harbor, by the way, not a highway, as many outsiders seem to think.
Down came the name Tidewater from our regional post office and up went the name Hampton Roads. Our region's postmark was changed to Hampton Roads. The chambers of commerce and other organizations have toiled long and hard to promote the name.
But Hampton Roads is less well known north of Williamsburg than the capital city of Silesia. Privately, some regional leaders admit that the Great Hampton Roads Experiment has been a failure. The name hasn't caught on because people don't know what or where Hampton Roads is.
Logically, the region should be named the Greater Norfolk Area. Norfolk is the region's core city and the most well known.
It's a concept that's worked in Richmond, where suburban counties, which are cities in everything but name, reap the benefits of Richmond's robust reputation and regional cooperation. Atlanta is surrounded by large suburban cousins who eagerly advertise themselves as part of metropolitan Atlanta.
Alas, Virginia Beach, which in a few years will have twice the population of Norfolk, objects to that logic. So do the Peninsula cities.
So we're stuck with Hampton Roads, a name that's unpopular among many in Hampton Roads. During a recent call-in show on WGH radio in which host Jim Ducibella asked for opinions on what to call the Pirates, there was only one thing that nearly all of the three dozen or so calls callers agreed upon - call them anything but Hampton Roads.
Call them Hampton Roads, one caller said, and the team will be confused with the Hampton University Pirates.
Good point. Battle lines have been drawn among the area's business and community leaders.
Norfolk mayor Paul Fraim, whose city likely will be asked to help fund some improvements to Foreman Field, has privately told the Pirates he wants the team to be named Norfolk.
His reasoning: If Norfolk is going to help the team, the team should help Norfolk by providing the exposure for the city on ESPN and Canadian television and in hundreds of newspapers. If the team wants a regional name, then the region should fund the stadium improvements.
Fraim declined comment.
Not so, said Jack Hornbeck, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
``Our position is that they should be called the Hampton Roads Pirates. We're a region of 15 communities. If you want to make sure you have the full support of area municipalities, Hampton Roads is what will work.''
Hampton Roads Admirals president Blake Cullen wouldn't offer Glieberman much advice. ``I agonized over that decision,'' he said. But he added that in a survey of his season-ticket holders done this summer, a vast majority said they prefer the name Hampton Roads over Norfolk. Many said they'd cancel their season tickets if he changed the name.
That hasn't been the experience of the Norfolk Tides - until 1993 they were called the Tidewater Tides - who succumbed to Fraim when he led a charge by city officials to change the team's name after the city built the team Harbor Park.
``I had grave doubts about changing the name. But it does not appear to have hurt us. About 50 percent of our fans still come from the Beach,'' Tides general manager Dave Rosenfield said.
He suggests that the Pirates name their team before Jim Speros relocates his Baltimore Stallions to Richmond, as he is considering doing.
``I'd name it Virginia before that guy gets to Richmond,'' Rosenfield said.
The CFL, meanwhile, is pressuring the Pirates to go with Virginia. Sounds more impressive to TV networks, the CFL says.
What say you, Lonie?
``We have a lot of options. Chesapeake Bay is an interesting one. But since we're not from here, we want the fans to to help choose what they want their team called.''
Glieberman says he's listening. Tell him what you think. by CNB