Fasten your seatbelts – you may soon be landing at Tim Howard airport
Tim Howard’s breathtaking performance in the USA’s valiant defeat to Belgium has made him a star of social media, spawning endless memes, such as the inventive "Things Tim Howard Could Save", and even earned him a phone call from President Barack Obama. Now, though, he could be about to put his name on Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National airport – but probably not.
A petition on whitehouse.gov calls for the White House to change the name of the capital’s area’s regional airport, which sits along the Potomac and sends planes to locales across the United States, to commemorate the goalkeeper who made a World Cup record 16 saves against the Belgians. Dulles, farther out in Virginia and named for 1950s’ Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, is the city’s international airport.
"Whereas Tim Howard has shown himself to be a national treasure, Minister of Defense, Friend of Joe Biden, and the holder for the record of most saves in a World Cup match; Therefore, we politely request that we rename the airport to recognize his accomplishments, and meritorious service to the United States of America," the petition reads.
The general consensus among New York City’s soccer fans was that, without Howard, the American team, its best players injured to varying degrees, would’ve suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands – or is it feet? – of the Belgians. This way, we were able to achieve peace with dignity against our opponents in red.
After the game, Howard’s job title on his Wikipedia page was briefly altered to "Secretary of Defense." One photo circulating amid the social media Howardmania was of a young Tim’s senior year high school portrait, from 1997. Below, a clean-shaven young Howard’s quote of choice was 'It will take a nation of millions to hold me back." – a reference to a Public Enemy album. According to a Central Intelligence Agency estimate, Belgium is a nation of 10.4 millions.
But should we believe the hype? As of about 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, the petition had more than 14,000 signatures. That’s short of its 100,000 goal (pun intended) after which the White House will respond, but the campaign has until July 31 to hit its mark. Previous whimsical campaigns on the forum, however, such as the deport Justin Bieber movement, have failed in their objectives.
This wouldn’t be the first time the airport has undergone a name change. In 1998, Congress, in its wisdom, voted to change what had been known as Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan National Airport, in honor of the leader’s 87th birthday.
This didn’t go over well with Washingtonians, a city where even epic loser Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale, whom the Gipper demolished in 1984 in 49 states, couldn’t fail to get the federal district’s three electoral votes (along with his home state of Minnesota).
Back in 2014, Twitter was aglow with the idea, as Howardmania gripped the social media site on Wednesday with memes and jokes, a hair-of-the-dog for the hangover of a respectable World Cup performance ended by a couple of well-taken goals.
"Yes, I signed it," tweeted an account called Tanktronic. "I will then start a separate petition to change the IATA code to SAV," referring to the International Air Traffic Association call signs for airports, and, in case you missed it, the word "save." Right now, it’s just DCA.
Al Jazeera has reached out to the Ronald Reagan foundation for comment. We’ll let you know if they get back to us.
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