Congratulations to the Toronto Raptors, a team that everyone seems to admire and wish well, including Golden State. The last time I considered this team's existence, the city of Toronto was holding a contest to name their new expansion team This triggered a happy half hour with my then 11 year-old son Ben, spent dreaming up ever more preposterous names, memorialized some weeks (months?) later in the Globe and Mail...full text below the screenshot, minus a couple of editorial intrusions in the opening lines...nice graphic, isn't it?
Dream Teams
The mayor said, "Citizens! Dare to dream!
Invent a tag for our basketball team.
Season tickets for the right name:
A reserved seat in history--ten minutes of fame."
We got right to it with dreams of glory,
Choosing animals fierce and gory:
The Condors, the Goshawks, the Golden Eagles,
The Pinschers. The Bloodhounds. The Pointers. The Beagles.
But truthfully, mammals and birds are boring:
Think of the phyla we're ignoring:
How 'bout the Barracudas? Piranhas?
Pteranodons? Alligators? Iguanas?
Try Phylum Mollusca: the Mussels, the Clams,
Or how 'bout the Jellyfish? The Jams?
Why not a whole league--of body parts?
The Livers, the Lungs, the Tongues, the Hearts--
The Central Division of Digestion!
The Duodenum! The Large Intestine!
Why think so big? Why limit our vision?
We'll enter the Microbio Division
Of the Transcontinental League: Siberia
Boasts those fierce predators, the Bacteria
(Great dribblers, certain to outmaneuver
The fast-breaking Viruses of Vancouver).
Let's think on entirely different levels:
Quarks or Electrons. Cherubim or Devils.
Keep to the metaphysical heights:
Light versus Darkness. Wrongs versus Rights.
City limits are just an illusion
As long as city minds work in collusion:
Go for something as big as the nation,
As big as our species: Th'Imagination.
Dream Teams
The mayor said, "Citizens! Dare to dream!
Invent a tag for our basketball team.
Season tickets for the right name:
A reserved seat in history--ten minutes of fame."
We got right to it with dreams of glory,
Choosing animals fierce and gory:
The Condors, the Goshawks, the Golden Eagles,
The Pinschers. The Bloodhounds. The Pointers. The Beagles.
But truthfully, mammals and birds are boring:
Think of the phyla we're ignoring:
How 'bout the Barracudas? Piranhas?
Pteranodons? Alligators? Iguanas?
Try Phylum Mollusca: the Mussels, the Clams,
Or how 'bout the Jellyfish? The Jams?
Why not a whole league--of body parts?
The Livers, the Lungs, the Tongues, the Hearts--
The Central Division of Digestion!
The Duodenum! The Large Intestine!
Why think so big? Why limit our vision?
We'll enter the Microbio Division
Of the Transcontinental League: Siberia
Boasts those fierce predators, the Bacteria
(Great dribblers, certain to outmaneuver
The fast-breaking Viruses of Vancouver).
Let's think on entirely different levels:
Quarks or Electrons. Cherubim or Devils.
Keep to the metaphysical heights:
Light versus Darkness. Wrongs versus Rights.
City limits are just an illusion
As long as city minds work in collusion:
Go for something as big as the nation,
As big as our species: Th'Imagination.
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