Friday, February 10, 2006
Long live Los Angeles!
The city of Anaheim's expensive crusade to remind people they exist, suffered a blow yesterday when the jury sided with the Angels in the name-change contract dispute.
I've been pretty clear that I think Arte can do what he wants, and I'm all for whatever elevates the team to a level that demands more respect and more marketing and advertising revenue. Plus, I live in LA, so I happen to feel a tiny bit better about all my driving and fan-energy being put into a team that isn't named for someplace fairly non-representative of the fans and the area. Also, Anaheim is responsible for the systematic destruction of some of the great googie architecture of the 1950's-1970's, and I'd like to think this is a tiny bit of cosmic payback.
Some on the web have cited as evidence that the Angels are an Orange County team this map of sports affiliations based on the in-progress work of the Common Census project. While I agree that the map certainly shows a concentration in Orange County, I think that the *current* fans as mapped in a project in the early stages are not really the issue.
The issue is attracting future fans and on-going corporate support, and there is another map by the same project that tells a story about that, and it is this map attempting to identify "cities of influence." You'll notice that the entire region is all about LA (although, again this is the early stages). Now, perhaps Anaheim had aspirations of being a Green Bay-like influence on the region (if you look at Wisconsin on the map, you'll notice that Green Bay has made itself a city of influence in a region that should probably still be Milwaukee-fied). But when the city you are fighting with for influence is LA, and isn't actually very far from you, that would strike me as a losing battle.
The most damning piece of evidence in the whole thing? Anaheim has a *part-time* mayor. Come on!
The city may appeal the ruling, but I'd urge them to spend that money on really big "you are in Anaheim" signs or something. Maybe they feel the trial is giving them their money's worth in PR. I don't know.
I've been pretty clear that I think Arte can do what he wants, and I'm all for whatever elevates the team to a level that demands more respect and more marketing and advertising revenue. Plus, I live in LA, so I happen to feel a tiny bit better about all my driving and fan-energy being put into a team that isn't named for someplace fairly non-representative of the fans and the area. Also, Anaheim is responsible for the systematic destruction of some of the great googie architecture of the 1950's-1970's, and I'd like to think this is a tiny bit of cosmic payback.
Some on the web have cited as evidence that the Angels are an Orange County team this map of sports affiliations based on the in-progress work of the Common Census project. While I agree that the map certainly shows a concentration in Orange County, I think that the *current* fans as mapped in a project in the early stages are not really the issue.
The issue is attracting future fans and on-going corporate support, and there is another map by the same project that tells a story about that, and it is this map attempting to identify "cities of influence." You'll notice that the entire region is all about LA (although, again this is the early stages). Now, perhaps Anaheim had aspirations of being a Green Bay-like influence on the region (if you look at Wisconsin on the map, you'll notice that Green Bay has made itself a city of influence in a region that should probably still be Milwaukee-fied). But when the city you are fighting with for influence is LA, and isn't actually very far from you, that would strike me as a losing battle.
The most damning piece of evidence in the whole thing? Anaheim has a *part-time* mayor. Come on!
The city may appeal the ruling, but I'd urge them to spend that money on really big "you are in Anaheim" signs or something. Maybe they feel the trial is giving them their money's worth in PR. I don't know.
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