Wednesday, March 16, 2005 |
Doing My Civic Duty: Anaheim Wins One
The Anaheim Angels might yet take the field this season. The California Court of Appeal on Tuesday ordered the team to show why its name change should not be blocked, raising the possibility that the Los Angeles name could be stripped from the Angels on the verge of the season opener."Wreck [the Angels'] business strategy"? Come on, that's extreme. At worst, it'll make the advertisers who might have been convinced by this naming shell game think Arte's a dilettante; at best, everyone who hated the name change (all thirty of them, wearing their cranky t-shirts) can go back to whatever it was they were doing beforehand, like complaining about Angels bandwagon fans.Such a decision, just as national media outlets have started referring to the Los Angeles Angels, could spark another wave of ridicule about the team's identity, force the team to abandon its chosen name and wreck its business strategy, at least for the 2004 season. [Note: wife-and-reader Helen notes that it's far too late for them to deal with the 2004 season...]
"It would be marketing's best version of a twilight zone," said Paul Swangard of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.
The appellate court set a hearing for March 28 — eight days before the Angels open their season — and demanded the team explain why it should not be prevented from playing as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim until a trial to decide whether that name violates the stadium lease. The trial is set to start Nov. 7.
The city of Anaheim two weeks ago filed a petition for writ, an emergency appeal that asked the court to overrule Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos, who refused to put the name change on hold pending trial. Although writs are rarely granted, the vast majority of petitions are denied without a hearing.
"This is where you're in the realm of the unusual. In effect, they've granted the writ and they're going to review the merits of the judge's decision," said Sheldon Eisenberg of the Santa Monica law firm Bryan Cave. "It doesn't mean there's necessarily going to be a reversal, but this is clearly bad news for the Angels."
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