The Letters Mean Nothing

The SPHL was making noise on Tuesday with a couple of major announcements. The one that was obvious is pictured to the left as the SPHL introduced their 20th anniversary logo as the league moves into its third decade of play. Considering where it started and where it's standing now, there have been significant changes over the years that have seen 26 franchises play at some point in the league. There are three franchises that have been there since the league was founded in 2004 - the Knoxville Ice Bears, the Huntsville Havoc, and the Fayetteville franchise which rebranded from FireAntz to Marksmen in 2017!

While we can celebrate the simple design of the anniversary logo submitted by former Fayetteville Marksmen broadcaster DrIew Blevins, perhaps the bigger news came out in release highlighting this logo. As per the release, "The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) announced Tuesday that effective immediately it will simply be known as the SPHL."

I'm not saying this is a bad move considering that it's hard to call it the Southern Professional Hockey League when there are teams in Moline, Illinois, Roanoke, Virginia, and Peoria, Illinois. What I don't like is that the letters being used for the name of the league now mean nothing when it comes to the acronym for the words they once represented. I know the ECHL did this - the SPHL's release even references that! - but this is not something that I'd encourage or want to see from any other league.

"Similar to what the ECHL did in changing from the East Coast Hockey League, our continued success and expansion outside of the original footprint of the league has allowed the hockey world to recognize us simply as 'the SPHL'," Commissioner Doug Price stated in the release.

With all due respect to Price, I get the idea that the footprint of the league changed, but the American Hockey League is still the American Hockey League despite having teams in Abbotsford, Calgary, Winnipeg, Belleville, Toronto, and Laval. Footprints can change, but well-established names shouldn't. I'm not a fan of the ECHL not having a real name, and now the SPHL is following that lunacy? Hard "no" from this writer.

There are specific acronyms that have no meaning in relation to the word or phrase it represents, but SPHL shouldn't be one of them. A pseudo-acronym like BBQ, standing for barbecue, doesn't have a true meaning, but everyone knows what it represents. IOU is another whose meaning is well-known, but the "I owe you" letters are slightly different. And since SPHL can't be pronounced as a word like "NASA" or "laser", it's not standing for low-level minor-professional hockey either. It is ESS-PEE-AYCH-ELL from today forward.

Being that my opinion holds as much weight as the air I'm breathing when it comes to the SPHL listening to my rant, I doubt that the powers who made the decision in the SPHL will make any changes. If they're happy with the letters for their league meaning nothing, I'm not one to stop them. After all, one could label it the "Sorta Professional Hockey League" or the "Still Playing Hockey League", and it wouldn't be far off from where some players are in their careers.

At the end of the day, maybe William Shakespeare was right when he penned the lines in Romeo & Juliet, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet". It seems that the SPHL is going to test that idea with their new official four-letter name.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!