Johnny Cash Cab

I woke up this morning singing "Folsom Prison Blues".

I often speak during my dreams, and am a witty and articulate person in a way that never quite seems to manifest itself during waking hours. But I don't think I talk out loud while sleeping, and I'm reasonably certain that I don't normally sing prison songs for the entertainment pleasure of people who might be strolling past my window.

Is it possible to sing so loudly in a dream that you wake yourself up, even though no actual vocal sounds were created in the real world? I think maybe so. Especially if it's a nice low bass line like "Hang my head and cry."

What? You didn't know I sang bass? And that I'd probably be the next Larry Hooper (if there was still a market for such a thing)? Well, it's true -- I am a fabulous vocalist...at least as long as nothing wakes me up. (In dreamland, I'm also a kung-fu master, a world-class chef, and the guy who taught Jimi Hendrix how to play guitar. I'm dating that blue chick from "X-men", but that's really just a rebound relationship after things didn't work out all that well with Jodie Foster.)

Anyway, the topic of today's discussion is corporate sponsorship. While I think Sports Authority is a much more logical sponsor for Mile High Stadium than Invesco, it still sorta bugs me that there has to be a company name attached to everything. (The one exception is having baseball fields named after brands of beer -- that makes perfect sense to me.)

I wonder what the payback is, and how you measure it? Do people watch a Broncos game on TV, and after hearing the name of the field dutifully repeated by the announcers 27 times, get in the car as soon as the game is finished to drive zombielike over to the store to buy a new jockstrap or frisbee? I doubt it. Do the clerks at the store ask each person at checkout "Did you come here today because of the incessant repetition of the store's name attached to a venue where big sweaty guys pile on top of each other every 45 seconds, but nobody thinks it's gay?"

I can personally swear that I never gave any money to Invesco as a result of their naming rights. I never smoked Winstons because they sponsored auto racing, and I don't even know what the hell an "Xterra" is, nor where I would go to buy one. If I had to guess, I'd think it was some sort of flying dinosaur. (Or not -- that would probably be an "Xterra-dactyl", wouldn't it. Hmm. I'll have more to say about that in a future post, I promise.)

The naming thing appears to be a trend that isn't going away, though. So I guess I'm a little surprised that we haven't seen some of the more obvious connections. Think of the landmarks that various franchises or people could sponsor: The Verizon Eiffel Tower. The Empire Strikes Back State Building. Or my personal favorite, the venerable landmark on the left below. The other items in the photo seem like good matchups, too.



I'll probably have more to say about this concept as time goes by. Let me know if you have any opinions on the topic. In the meantime, if you go to the store to buy new socks or whatever, make sure you're doing it because you need new socks...and not just because a sports stadium told you too, OK? Thanks, and have a great day!