While the NCAA basketball brackets have been whittled down to the Final Four, another heated tournament is under way. Crystal Metheny is a favorite, though you can’t discount Velvet Milkman or Long Wang.
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These are real names belonging to real people. Whether they know it or not they’re competing in the 2009 Name of the Year tournament.
“There is no malice intended,” says STW, who along with buddies started the goofy tournament with pen and paper in 1983 while students at the University of Pennsylvania. Now a journalist based on the East Coast, STW prefers to remain anonymous, which might seem hypocritical to some.
Since being posted online two years ago, the competition has welcomed the world to submit monikers and opine on their favorites. Last year’s champion, Destiny Frankenstein, contacted the hosts/judges, happily sharing that when she approached the plate at her college softball games the speakers blared “Monster Mash.”
Others aren’t as thrilled to be included. “In some e-mails we’ve been called insensitive,” STW says.
Whoever is crowned the 2009 Name of the Year will be in good company. Past champions include Honka Monka (1996), L.A. St. Louis (1998) and Assumption Bulltron, Name of the Decade.
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Name-dropping: Who’s your pick? Cast your vote for name of the year at chicagotribune.com/name