You would have to search far to find someone who is more indifferent to sports than I am. Well, that’s not altogether true (you could find some folks right here, in fact), but I’m certainly down in the bottom octile about it.
Still, this is pretty funny, in a “Thank God it’s not my tax dollars this time” way.
Baseball’s Angels have a new name, and it’s a mouthful: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The switch, which will be challenged in court by the city of Anaheim, is intended to help the team market itself to more of Southern California, attract more advertising sponsors and broadcast revenue, the team said Monday.
The Angels have a long history of name changes, but nothing ever quite so … um … awful.
When the franchise began in 1961, owned by singing cowboy Gene Autry, it was the Los Angeles Angels. The team became the California Angels when it moved to Anaheim in 1966. In 1997, when the team was controlled by The Walt Disney Co., the franchise was renamed the Anaheim Angels.
This reminds me (uncomfortably) of our new football stadium here in Denver. The local citizenry (or at least the local sports writers) were aghast when the (my tax dollars at work) replacement for the beloved Mile High Stadium had its naming rights bought by Invesco, and became Invesco Field. You’d have have thought the local cathedral had been renamed for an investment company or something.
Anyway, Invesco and the Broncos agreed to offer a compromise, which turned out to make nobody happy: Invesco Field at Mile High. And, to this day, different media outlets call it either just Invesco Field or Mile High.
Good luck to the city fathers of Anaheim in their law suit over whether the name change violates the team’s lease with the city.
(via J-Walk)