Would you use a business named after a rival high school athletic team (also a nearby area)?

If I shared the values of a community that takes athletic loyalties that seriously, I wouldn’t patronize a business named after a rival I really disliked. However, it’s hard for me to imagine a community that is so identified with local athletic teams. In any case, if I were setting up a business where I wanted to appeal to a broad range of people, I would not choose a name or logo that gave people a knee-jerk reason to avoid my business. Unless, of course, I didn’t care about being successful, or my loyalty to my team was such that I was willing to kind of rub it in my rivals faces.

Again, it’s hard for me to imagine such things. I know there are communities that actively hate each other, and think anyone from the town next door is of poor moral character, and probably lazy, to boot. It’s pretty parochial point of view, but people often feel insecure without a strong sense of belonging to a very tight group. If I lived in a community like that, and I wanted to succeed in my rival’s community, I wouldn’t do anything that points out the rivalry. In fact, I can hardly believe anyone would even consider doing such a thing. Maybe some people like putting bullets between their metatarsals!

I would, but there are a lot of people around her who wouldn’t dare!