A burj by any other name...

This Saturday, the JV girls softball team that I coach had a double-header against our "cross town" rivals in Dubai (and the only other softball program in the country). The girls went 1-1 with a strong second game. Our two new pitchers (8th graders) are off to a solid start, and we have a shot at victory when the opposing team visits us on April 8.

But that is not the main topic of this post. The main topic of this post is our planet's newest tallest building, which dominates the view from the softball field at the American school where we played. Last year when our teams faced off on that same field, the tower was known as the Burj Dubai, and was still skeletal at about the 145th floor. This year it loomed over us throughout the day, the hot sun blazing off its smooth, glassy surface; its tower rising into the sky, a good 1,046 feet taller than its closest rival (the Taipai 101).

It also had a new name.

The Burj Dubai was renamed the Burj Khalifa sometime between the summer of 2009 and its opening on January 4, 2010. This is also, as you might recall, about the same time that Dubai's debt crisis hit with forecasts of gloom and doom for this once-shining light of x-treme capitalism. Burj is the Arabic word for tower. Khalifa is the name of the president of the UAE and the head of the royal family. Of Abu Dhabi. Not coincidentally, said sheikh had just approved a $10 billion transfer into Dubai's empty coffers.

Those of us who heard of the renaming and know a bit about politics in these here parts laughed ruefully at the news. Because the UAE might present a united front on the international stage, at, say, the Olympics or the U.N., but back at home, the emirates lead decidedly separate lives. They have their own royal families whose hands-on style of governance is a constant reminder that this country remains a patchwork of tiny sheikhdoms. Renaming Dubai's symbol of economic prowess after the sheikh of Abu Dhabi is tantamount to renaming the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Yankees. Yet as extreme as this comparison may seem to baseball die hards, it only hints at the vast amount of crow that had to be eaten by Dubai in order to suck it up and agree to the name change. You can only imagine the conversation as it unfolded. I've attempted to recreate it here, cutting through what must certainly have been days and days of ornate Arabic and desert etiquette.

Abu Dhabi: We have about $10 billion lying around and for the good of our collective image, our honor as Emeratis and to keep the creditors from tearing us all apart bit by bit, why don't we lend it to you. More tea?

Dubai: Don't mind if I do. Here, try some dates. Wow...that's really cool of you guys. How can we ever repay you?

Abu Dhabi: These dates are delicious! Well...there's just this one little thing...

And so the Burj Khalifa was born. No one has yet added 'The biggest naming gift in history" to the list of the tower's many world records, but it must be up there. So far, the Burj has been plagued by vacancies (30,000 apartments and nine different hotels!) and dodgy elevators (which, when not stranding tourists between floors, shoot up and down at speeds of 60 km/hr). But, it IS the world's tallest building. At least until the next one comes along...