The Conical Glass: Hooting and rooting for the Marlins

Monday, July 30, 2007

Hooting and rooting for the Marlins

I was watching the Giants play the Marlins on Saturday, and got really excited when I noticed that the Marlins had a second baseman on the team named Dan Uggla. "Hey," I said to Joe, "'uggla' means 'owl' in Swedish!" I Googled him and found that, indeed, he "descends from the untitled branch of a Swedish noble family." Apparently, Uggla's name is a source of merriment to sportswriters and fans; a Sporting News blogger said the moniker is "one of the goofiest names I ever heard." Naturally, any Swedish music fan is familiar with superstar Magnus Uggla. I'm guessing the two men are related somewhere down the line. (By the way, the announcers pronounce it "ugh-la," but it should properly be closer to "oog-la.")

While looking up info on Dan Uggla, I found that the Marlins have another player of Swedish ancestry on the team: relief pitcher Matt Lindstrom. Matt is a Mormon who did his two years of missionary work in Sweden. He played in Friday's game, but I missed that one since we were busy seeing "The Simpsons Movie."

I don't have any connections to South Florida -- I suppose my Florida allegiance would have to be with the woeful Devil Rays, since their dreadful domed stadium is located just a couple miles from my parents' winter home in St. Petersburg -- but the presence of two Swedish-Americans on the Marlins' roster means I'll be rooting for them, at least a little bit.

posted by 125records @ 1:27 PM

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