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I never thought I’d see the day where so many people are bummed out – and even upset! – about the name of an old office supplies store being kicked to the curb but here we are and I can’t stop laughing about it.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it was reported last night that the Staples Center in Los Angeles – which is home to the Lakers, Clippers, Sparks, and Kings – will soon be going by the name Crypto.com Arena.
Yup, it’s a tough day for a chain of boring stores that is currently celebrating a holiday deal on office chairs on its website. There is nothing more exciting in sports than a good deal on office chairs! Also, who doesn’t look forward to a trip to their favorite office supplies store!?
Many sports fans in Los Angeles haven’t been taking this news well. Nostalgia over a store that currently has a very good deal on copy paper is currently at an all-time high, with fans being very vocal about how they’ll always call their city’s arena the name it has been since Day 1 – Staples, where you can get a ton of manilla folders at a pretty good price.
Part of me gets it – change can be hard. I grew up in Boston and we had the Boston Garden. Then we had the FleetCenter, named after what used to be a local bank. Then it was named after another bank. And I think it’s still named after a bank but I’m not entirely sure because who can really care about the name of an arena or stadium?
I mean, the New England Patriots play in a stadium named after a company that specializes in the wild world of razors and shaving cream and nobody really cares because names of arenas and stadiums no longer matter. They are just places where we go to have fun and that amount of fun isn’t affected at all by whatever silly corporate title sits on top of it.
There are many other sports stadiums that go buy meaningless names, too – names of companies of all different types (Minute Maid Park in Houston is a favorite of mine… who can’t get excited about juice?!) that pay a bunch of money to have their name be used every time there’s a game being played there. I guess it’s a good thing for businesses because heck, Staples is still around and currently offering really good deals on desk pad calendars and printers (as low as $109!?) so something has to be good about these naming rights.
Fans in LA will get over this in time. Many will proudly call it Staples for years to come. Others will just stop calling it by any name and continue to go to games and have just as much fun as before.
Life goes on. Games go on. Stadiums go on.
But seriously, did you know Staples offers free delivery on all ink and toner (with no minimum charge required)? They can never take that away from you, Los Angeles. Well, they probably can, but whatever. Today that offer stands and today is all we have.
Free ink and toner delivery for everyone!
I just wish Circuit City had come back and threw in a bid because the Circuit City Center would have been the gosh darn coolest.
Quick hits: Early NFL awards… Special goal for Philadelphia’s Kevin Hayes… Meet the Kansas fan who went viral… And more.
– Charles McDonald hands out some NFL awards, including a MVP award going to an AFC QB.
– Flyers forward Kevin Hayes celebrated his first goal of the season with a touching tribute to his late brother, Jimmy Hayes.
– Blake Schuster caught up with the Kansas football fan who went viral last weekend with his reactions during the team’s upset of Texas.
– Charles Curtis has 7 fantasy football players you should buy low on and trade for as your season heads towards the playoffs.
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