Arena named Jimmy Fund Center instead
I had no idea that this joke would get so much attention in the first place. It was a joke. I’ve already had my laugh. But I could have made it much worse, like the A-Rod Center, Bucky Dent Center, the Aaron Boone Center, or the ‘Only 25 More [championships] To Go’ Center.
- Kerry Konrad
I understand and applaud Boston’s Fleet Center auctioning off naming rights by the day. The money is, after all, going to charity. Still, Fleet Center management had to expect that people bidding on this would in some cases be pursuing their own agenda, right? Besides, if I bid $2000+ for naming rights, I’m going to damn well name it what I choose. Perhaps Kerry Konrad should have been a bit more assertive.
If Konrad had pressed his case, he could have had a prime opportunity to tweak Boston residents. Yeah…like THAT’S never happened before….
There will be no Derek Jeter Center after all.
On Tuesday, New York attorney Kerry Konrad won the right in an eBay auction to name Boston’s FleetCenter for a day. For his $2,325, Konrad wanted to honor the New York Yankees shortstop.
But, on Friday, FleetCenter officials rejected the name, which Konrad hoped would add to the 25-year rivalry he has had with his former college classmates who are Boston Red Sox fans.
“We decided that all the names had to be rated G, and this name was determined to be obscene and vulgar,” said Richard A. Krezwick, president and chief executive of the FleetCenter, which has auctioned off daily naming rights to about a dozen companies since its contract with the bank was terminated. “We were afraid of the volume of phone calls bogging down our switchboard, the number of e-mails clogging our portal and the potential graffiti on the side of our building.”
When reached at his office, Konrad said he was not disappointed….
Instead, on March 1, the building will be named the Jimmy Fund Center. Jerry Rappaport Jr., Konrad’s ex-college roommate and Red Sox fan, added $6,275 to Konrad’s bid — to reach $8,600 in total to signify the 86-year Boston Red Sox curse that was broken in 2004. The money will go to The Jimmy Fund, which supports the fight against cancer through Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Yes, the money is going to a good cause, and we should all be grateful for that. I am surprised, though, at the reason Fleet Center management gave for rejecting “Jeter Center” as a naming option. Vulgar?? Is it because of Jeter, or is there something more to this?
In junior high school, I remember “jeter” being used as slang for the male sexual organ (“penis”, for those of you needing a little help). I have not heard that slang in, oh, I don’t know…30 years? Surely, that couldn’t have contributed to why Fleet Center management declined to use “Jeter Center”? Or are they really that paranoid?
Of course, I don’t live in Boston or New York, so it can be argued that I clearly don’t understand the depth of the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox (and their respective fans). Somehow, though, I think the humor in the episode may well have been lost on the Boston faithful.
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