After the city of Anaheim dropped its legal challenge against the MLB franchise to rename the team the Anaheim Angels, the worst name in pro sports, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is officially here to stay

SCOTT JACOBS

The Phoenix Cardinals of Glendale?  The Fort Lauderdale Dolphins of Miami?  The New Jersey Jets of New York?  They all sound pretty ridiculous, don’t they?  I would say so.  And don’t worry, there is no information to my knowledge that any of those names will ever see the light of day.  Unfortunately, that has no barring on the future of the Los Angeles Angels, err… Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of America of North America. Yesterday, the grim news that any sane sports fan didn’t want to hear was announced: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is here for good.

The city of Anaheim had filed a lawsuit in 2005, after Angels owner Arte Moreno, the first hispanic owner in pro sports history, changed the name from Anaheim to a walking punchline.  The idea behind the name was to generate more national interest in the Angels, and to make them associatable with the Los Angeles sports landscape.  The Dodgers weren’t happy with this.  The city of Anaheim wasn’t happy with this.  Sports fans in this country were baffled by this.

The Angels changed their uniforms that year to read “Angels” on both the homes, the roads, and later on the alternates.  Because nothing says great PR like a jersey that says “Los Angeles of Anaheim.”  So now, the Angels are the most generic team in the sport.  Because they’re not Anaheim, and they’re not Los Angeles… they’re both.  Um, yeah, whatever.

Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle (got to love that last name) said that the City Council was unanimous in it’s voting Tuesday to give up once and for all it’s efforts to restore the name to something that sounds like, I don’t know, a real team name. The city’s argument had been based on the idea that Moreno was in violation of the Anaheim owned stadium lease agreement when he changed the team’s name.

With the California appeals court ruling against Anaheim back in December, and an Orange County Superior court jury also ruling against Anaheim in 2006, the city (not of Los Angeles, but just the city itself) finally gave up.

Pringle (not to be confused with the wicked cool chip logo) has stated that Anaheim city leaders still feel the wrong decision was made, but that it was time to move on.

So, instead of the Anaheim Angels, which used to be the California Angels, now we’ve got the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a very long time.  Hope the stadium lease that the Giants and Jets signed for their new billion dollar stadium says something about New York remaining the name.  Because if not, New York Giants of New Jersey could be on the horizon.

And that’s enough of that.

READ MORE: Anaheim Votes to end challenge to Angels’ name change

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