Fans to Bring Team Passion to Grave

I love sports. But I know this will become a big topic around watercoolers across the country in the coming weeks, besides talking about the fall of the Florida State Seminoles; how much Terrell Owens has been in the media spotlight and, quite possibly the most hysterical thing I've heard since Dennis Green's tirade after the Arizona Cardinals collapsed against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.

Yes, it's true, diehard Major League Baseball (MLB) fanatics can now have their favorite team's logo emblazoned on their casket upon their departure into the next life. Amazing? Well, yes. But apparently it's all about marketing.

Farmington Hills, Mich.-based, Eternal Image, maker and marketer of innovative funerary products has quickly become recognized as an organization providing, yet another means for people to express their lifelong passions. No matter if you're a Cubs fan, who has neither seen a World Series crown in your lifetime, nor a New York Yankees fan, who has probably seen most of the 26 World Championship titles, Major League Baseball will introduce six teams' logos with a certainty of adding all 30 franchise logos soon.

According to MLB, requests such as these have been coming from both baseball clubs as well as its fan base for several years, and this was one way to help fans of the National Pastime express their love of their team. Really? You mean the days of being buried in your favorite Houston Astros uniform (circa 1986) with the "Rainbow Guts," also referred as the "popsicle" uniform, are far from over?

Apparently so since Eternal Image, is also working with the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL) and even NASCAR to offer more choices to sports fans to find that immaculate coffin that represents their lifelong sports passion.

Like I mentioned earlier, I love sports. But don't you think the sports business has reached almost every fringe area of life. What's next? Will your favorite new Cadillac Escalade, freshly driven off the lot don all your favorite food, clothing and snack sponsors? "Sorry, I'm a Coca-Cola sponsored driver, and I only shop at Lowe's…"

I say all this with much respect and admiration for people who love sports, but who can't quite get enough of their favorite teams, whether it's the San Francisco Giants or the Florida Marlins.

Perhaps, I'm a little Old School? I grew up playing sports and have been around it all my life. There's no greater smell than fresh cut grass, hot dogs and popcorn at a ballpark, and there's nothing better than the crispness of the ball popping in the catcher's mitt on a sunny spring day in April.

And all of those are wonderful memories I'll surely take with me for the day when I pass on and become the soil for the new Wrigley Field. For perhaps, I'll be buried in a team-sponsored casket in order to allow my pure sports brethren a chance to become, finally, members of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim teammates with me.