Didn't they...Wasn't that supposed...Isn't there???

It was just over a year ago (March 15, 2008) that this post -- with a HUGE misspelling in the title -- made this announcement.

A new era has begun for the Cedar Rapids Kernels Baseball Club. The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Dale and Thomas Popcorn announced today a five-year field naming rights partnership. The field at Veterans Memorial Stadium will be named the “Dale and Thomas Popcorn Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium”.

At the press conference held today, Kernels President Tom Barbee officially announced the partnership between Dale and Thomas Popcorn and the Kernels.

Five years...That would be 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012...Or, maybe not...

Call it a perfect fit.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Perfect Game USA announced a five-year field naming rights partnership at a press conference on Wednesday. The field at Veterans Memorial Stadium will be renamed the "Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium."

Why the change? This may answer it.

Tom Barbee, president of the Kernels' board of directors, said the club was informed in January by Dale and Thomas Popcorn — which sells prepackaged gourmet popcorn items — that because of tough economic times, the New Jersey company wanted out of its naming rights deal. The dissolution was finalized March 12.

"I think it was amicable," Barbee said. "We wish them the best, they wish us the best. Unfortunately, it was a time when things didn't work out."

Barbee and [GM Jack] Roeder didn't have to go far to find a new partner. Perfect Game USA began as strictly a local endeavor, a place for Iowa youths to hone skills, work out during the winter and get noticed by college coaches and professional scouts.

Good to see the Kernels land on their feet.