Well, Tommy Bowden stepped down today as football coach at Clemson. It isn't much of a surprise, since they have been having a terrible season (especially considering how good they were supposed to be) and he was apparently about to get fired anyway. So Clemson football is kind of a big deal around here (not for me, clearly... just Mark... and therefore me after all, based on his moods), Mark's phone has been ringing off the hook with people needing to discuss every detail of what happened, and why it should or shouldn't have happened, and what might happen next. [sigh.]
So as Mark yammers away on his cell phone (I swear, when it comes to Clemson football, he is an outright chatterbox... you don't have to beleieve me but I promise it's true), I am contemplating bigger problems. Namely, our dog.
Our precious baby girl pup is named after Tommy Bowden. It's sort of a strange name for a girl dog anyway (yes, to me there is a difference in a girl dog and boy dog, even after they've each been fixed), but it's even stranger when the namesake is no longer affiliated with Mark's school.
Mark and (canine) Bowden, Christmas 2004
Therefore, I ask you: should we start calling her something else? I don't really want to... as strange a name as it is, it's her name and calling her something else would feel unnatural. When someone says Bowden, I think of my dog before the coach anyway. Also, my understanding is that Tommy Bowden left Clemson as graciously as everyone would expect from him, and Mark thinks that once all the hullabaloo settles down, people will remember him as a decent coach during his tenure (which he was). And I'm ok having my dog named after someone like that, even without the ACC title.Plus, the next-best option is Mark's pet name for her (yes, our pet has a pet name)... B-Diddy. Hmmm.
6 comments:
Believe it or not, someone else I know also has a female dog named Bowden. I actually don't think it's too strange of a name for a girl. Names that aren't obviously male or female seem to be popular right now. As long as the real Bowden doesn't do anything wierd/creepy/illegal, then I see no reason to call her something else!
yeah, the gender-ambiguous names do seem popular, don't they? although if I'm being honest I have to admit I don't really like them. jordan. hunter. kelly. are these boys or girls. when we named Simon (and Nathan), we were very specific in our gender-specific names!
I'd keep the name Bowden because it sounds so literary. I never would have associated it with a coach because I don't follow sports.
Keep the name. You treat your dogs as family, and you wouldn't change your family members' names, right? Problem solved.
thanks y'all. I don't think we were really considering changing her name seriously... but it will be a little awkward now if people end up hating him (though we don't hate him, of course)...
so from now on I will just say it's a literary name, as mary suggested, and leave it at that. :)
(non-sports fans can ignore this comment)
Easy solution: Butch. Why?
1. Named after a real football coach.
2. B-Diddy is still applicable.
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