I Am All For "El Heat"

Photo Acquired From:  http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/el%20heat

Let me start by saying I am all for Hispanic Heritage Month, just so no one gets confused.  I think the NBA does a great job of supporting communities and giving back.  It's great that they even go to the extent of changing the jerseys of the teams for Hispanic Heritage Month.  This is also a form of target marketing for the NBA, as they wish to extend their reach to the hispanic community.

Let me just pose a question though, why "El Heat"?  Why use "spanglish" when they could easily go full Spanish; "El Calor"? You can't tell me that Heat fans are suddenly not going to recognize their team because Lebron James is wearing "El Calor" across his chest for a game or two.  Not only that, but considering the fact that the Heat, according to "Heat News" on NBA.com, have the largest fan base of Hispanic season ticket holders in the NBA.

I should point out the fact that it's not just the Heat because I have also watched games that included "Los Lakers" and "Nueva York".  Am I just missing the point with this?  Perhaps "Lakers" doesn't translate well to Spanish, but that's why I am using the Heat as my main example.

To me, people will understand why a jersey says "El Calor" for a night or two during the season, especially when you have the NBA there to explain Hispanic Heritage Month.  This is almost as weird to me as Taco Bell's "Live Mas" slogan but I won't get in to that right now, I'll stick to sports.



Source:

Heat celebrates hispanic heritage month at bucky dent park. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nba.com/heat/news/HEAT_Celebrates_Hispanic_Heritage.html