'1836' rubs some Latinos the wrong way

Add some local Latinos to the list of people weighing in on Houston 1836, the name chosen for Houston's new soccer team — seems they're a little unhappy about being reminded of the Texas Revolution and the violence and discrimination against Mexicans that followed it, the NY Times reports today.

The team's owner, the Anschutz Entertainment Group of Los Angeles, appears to have upset some of the very soccer-crazy fans they were hoping to lure, after basing its venture in part on the crowds of Spanish-speaking fútbol aficionados who regularly fill stadiums here to attend the matches of visiting clubs from Mexico. Marisabel Muñoz, a spokeswoman for Major League Soccer in New York, which is controlled in part by Anschutz, declined to comment.

"Clearly, not enough homework was put into this," said Paco Bendaña, a prominent Houston-based authority on marketing to Latinos. "Historically speaking, 1836 is not something we celebrate."

Bendaña isn't the only Latino critical of the 1836 name. Rumbo de Houston Editor Carlos Puig said he got a flood of e-mails from people "going crazy with the name," and Puig's newspaper called the name an "own goal" Thursday — the term for the move in soccer when a player accidentally kicks the ball into his own goal, scoring a point for the other team.

On the pro-1836 side, the Times notes, is a Mexican-American who said in a forum on the Chronicle's Web sitethat people should "stop being so politically correct." And Oliver Luck, the president of Houston 1836, pointed out that the Texans had Mexicans on their side fighting for independence during the Revolution. Houston imagines most fans, whether they love the name or hate it, will still find it in their hearts to support the team — as long as it wins.