On March 6, 1836 the siege of the Alamo ended with Santa Anna’s forces capturing the mission and the death of most of those who were protecting it. On March 6, 2006 the reign of Houston 1836 ended with most everyone looking foolish. I will leave it to the Texans to wax elegant upon that irony.

I will instead wax ironic upon the new name: Houston Dynamo.

It is, objectively speaking, a perfectly fine name. (It’s certainly better than Real Salt Lake.) And had they chosen Dynamo initially, I suspect most folks would have been more or less happy with it. But after 1836 ruckus? Well, that makes the Dynamo moniker rather more interesting.

Dynamo is a name of rich tradition in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 1923 the first Dynamo was established in Moscow as a sporting society by a little outfit called the Soviet secret police. These were the folks that eventually became the KGB.

The police were, of course, among the most privileged of people in Soviet Russia and their sporting society was consequently very well supported by the state. Dynamo Moscow became the soccer team of the police and the KGB.

In time a number of Dynamos were established around the Soviet Union. All of them were intimately connected with the police. The Dynamos were the sporting personification of a controlling class of Soviet society.

I am old enough to have memories of the Soviet Union and the threat it posed. I remember when the nightmarish specter of global annihilation seemed a real possibility. In comparison to the apocalyptic Soviet threat contemporary concerns about terrorism and various forms of religious fascism actually appear quite minor.

I understand why some might choose to protest the Dynamo name on these grounds. But I choose otherwise. Why? Because I think it’s hilarious that a team in Houston – in Texas – is named in undeniable homage to the Dynamos of Russia and Eastern Europe.

Now, I don’t have to interpret that homage as necessarily binding the Houston Dynamo to any of the more unsavory baggage the homage might imply. And, yet, I choose to do precisely that. It’s funnier that way.

I just hope everyone in the People’s Republic of Houston is finally happy and that everyone else has the good sense to nickname the Dynamo the Commies.