This is not a joke.
The ESPN sports network is doing an interview with the Pampa, Texas parents of one of two boys in Texas to be named after the network. Two-year old ESPN Malachi McCall, whose first name is pronounced Espen, was named by his parents after the popular sports network. So was another child, four-year old ESPN Curiel, who hails from my home town of Corpus Christi, Texas. A third child, ESPN Blondeel–who is also four–hails from Michigan.
ESPN McCall’s parents decided to name him after hearing a report on one of the other children on the radio:
Rebecca and Michael McCall said their son’s name started as a joke after they heard on the radio about another couple naming their son “ESPEN.”
“He looked at me and said, ‘That’s a cool name,'” Rebecca McCall said in Saturday’s editions of the Amarillo Globe-News.
Rebecca McCall said she resisted her husband’s idea at first, but the idea grew on her.
“I didn’t like it until he was born,” she said, adding that by then, she couldn’t think of calling her son anything else [source].
A network executive explained:
“We don’t have viewers. We have fans,” ESPN spokesman Dave Nagle said Saturday. “And I guess there’s no better testament than when someone names their child after your product. It just shows the bond we have with people.”
Nagle said the feature will air Sept. 6 as part of a two-hour special celebrating the network’s 25th anniversary.
Speaking of names, has anyone noted all the crazy names parents are giving their children these days?
Parents used to give Bible or saints names, now its names like Jackson, Colton, Tyler, Taylor, Cooper, Scout, Hunter, Connor or who knows what.
Maybe some of these people are saints, but who knows.
Oh, man. I knew Texans were serious about their sports, but this is kinda scary!
Steve, that’s so true about the modern names, but it’s a pretty secular culture. I think a lot of practicing Catholics still try to give their kids saints’ names. In fact, I know of a number who’ve named their boys “John Paul”!–which is I suppose a presumption (which I agree with) that our Holy Father will be named a saint.
Ugh! Fortunately, POD Catholics have the sense to name their kids after saints and not after tv channels they like (can you imagine a kid named “Ewten”? Somehow I don’t think Mother Angelica would approve).
Well, the names in the Bible were once new…as were the names of many saints. Also, you can’t expect, say, the Japanese to be content with picking between the few Japanese saints and a whole pack of Western names. There are many reasons for names being given, and religion doesn’t have to be the only one.
The next time my wife gives me trouble for naming a son of mine Athanasius ….I think I will whip this story out….
I am a man,and if my wife wanted to name our son Espen,I could not allow it at all.Here’s the problem:Parents give their kids strange names that sound good for a small child,and forget that these are the names their kids will have to live with for the rest of their lives.I would not be surprised to find that there are mothers and fathers with the last name of Christmas who have named their daughters Mary(now please don’t do that yourself).How would you like to see your kid go to court and change his name when he turns 18??
“Name? Foxnews, sir. Foxnews O’Dale.”
Now you can be a walking, talking advertisment! Oh the humanity!
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