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A
U.S. district judge ruled Thursday that
the Kentucky Horse Racing Association must
allow jockeys to wear advertisements on
their silks in all races, including the
Kentucky Derby, which was held Saturday.
The jockeys who sued claimed that they had
been offered upward of $30,000 to adorn
their pants with patches and logos of various
sponsors, and that the prohibition by the
association was an infringement upon their
rights.
What
these jockeys need to realize is that they
are a part of an association. While we're
all for the free market, if individual participants
have the right to defy the regulations of
such an association, then no defense can
be raised against having advertisements
covering every surface in every organization.
In
the NFL, the San Diego Chargers could be
renamed the San Diego MasterCards. They
could rename the stadium so that it no longer
honored the sports columnist who helped
to bring the team to San Diego but instead
publicized a wireless telephone and Internet
service provider or a chain of pet stores
-- oh wait, they already did that.
Which
bears our point out even further. Sports
especially, but also entertainment in general,
have been infiltrated extensively by advertising
during the past decade, so that now even
the most mundane of things seem to be brought
to us by some company.
The
"lifeline" on "Who Wants
to Be a Millionaire" and the call-in
vote on "American Idol" both promote
phone companies. A special question and
answer portion of ESPN's "Sportscenter,"
the "Budweiser Hot Seat," reminds
us that the King of Beers and sports go
hand in hand. The first third of several
women's fashion magazines is dedicated to
pictures of depressed -- yet well dressed
-- young men and women. Even the backs of
lesser-rated boxers are decorated with temporary
tattoos beseeching viewers to visit GoldenPalace.com.
Some
of these examples, admittedly, aren't really
the purest of events to begin with. Whereas
jockeys who look like little billboards
detract from the tradition and spirit of
the Triple Crown series, incessant phone
ads on shallow game shows probably don't
ruin the dignity of anything.
But
in many cases, the most revered of our institutions
are being defiled by profit hungry businesses
desperate to work their way into a new niche.
And of course, businesses have been more
than eager to accept these ads. In sports,
San Francisco's hallowed Candlestick Park
was renamed 3Com Park and then PacBell Park,
which is slightly less gaudy, but commercial
nonetheless. Even more egregious was the
fate of Philadelphia's Veteran's Stadium,
which was a one-star venue if there ever
was one and deserved to be imploded, as
it was. But the new stadium built in its
place dropped the original moniker in favor
of "Lincoln Financial." Presumably
the veterans had been honored enough.
People
aren't going to stop responding to advertisements,
so if this deluge of commercialization is
to be stopped it will be up to conscientious
businesses and a judicial respect for the
prerogatives of private leagues and associations.
And if that doesn't happen, we may be forced
to solicit advertisements in our very own
On-line Forty-Niner.
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