There's a guy named Bob Rohrman who owns a slew of auto dealerships in Chicago, Indianapolis and points in between.  (There's a rumor, for instance, that he owns 1/2 of Lafayette, Indiana, a small city an hour northwest of Indianapolis and two hours southeast of Chicago.)  Rohrman has been known, in true car dealer fashion, for running goofy local television ads over the years.  In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, for instance, he appeared in fatigues as "Stormin' Rohrman" who was "mad as all get-out" that other dealers were claiming to be offering better deals.  "Ain't no way," Stormin' Rohrman told viewers.   Uh huh.

I haven't given ol' Bob Rohrman much thought over the years, but I must confess that he was the first person who popped into my mind when I heard about the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim."  I was running on the treadmill on Monday, and to relieve the boredom I had ESPN on...and on the crawl I saw that it had been announced that the southern California American League ballclub had changed its name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The Angels, of course, had originally been known as the Los Angeles Angels, in homage to the longtime Pacific Coast League club of that name.  When the Angels joined the American League in 1961 they played in Los Angeles' Wrigley Field (yes, you read correctly) a true bandbox of a ballpark that the PCL club had used for years and was the site of TV's "Home Run Derby."  The Angels moved to Dodger Stadium when it opened in 1962, sharing the park with the National League club for which the park was named.  (For Angels games the ballpark was officially known as "Chavez Ravine.")  The team was still known as the Los Angeles Angels, through the 1965 season.  In 1966, Anaheim Stadium opened and the Angels moved to Orange County and were rechristened as the "California Angels," the name they retained until the ballpark was remodeled (for the second time).  An agreement was signed with the City of Anaheim that the club had to use "Anaheim" in its name as part of a deal to kick in public money for refurbishing the ballpark.  The team was renamed the "Anaheim Angels," consistent with the policy of the team's owner at the time (Disney), which also owned the NHL's Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

But Disney sold the Angels to Arte Moreno a couple of years ago and he quickly made it known that he wanted the Angels to seriously compete for the Los Angeles area baseball crown with the Dodgers.  To do this, Moreno and his supporters have claimed, the team must be better identified with Los Angeles, rather than clinging to an Orange County moniker.  The club started publicly floating the idea of changing the team's name back to "Los Angeles Angels" about a year ago and they have evidently decided that they can satisfy the terms of the somewhat vague agreement with Anaheim by sticking the city's name on as an awkward appendage which, when it isn't being joked about openly, will presumably be ignored.  The club's hope is that over time, by default, the team will be universally referred to as the Los Angeles Angels.

This would hardly be the first time that a professional team was referred to by a city name other than that of its actual home.  In the NFL, the Washington Redskins now play in suburban Maryland, but is anyone suggesting that the team change its name to the Landover Redskins or the Maryland Redskins?  The Dallas Cowboys haven't played in Dallas since they called the Cotton Bowl home, decades ago.  They've played in Irving, Texas for years and are expected to move into a new facility in Arlington in the relatively near future.  They will presumably still be called the Dallas Cowboys.  The New York Giants and Jets don't even play in the state of New York.  The Lions only recently moved back to Detroit after decades in suburban Pontiac.  The Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA played in Richfield, Ohio for years.  The Detroit Pistons haven't played in a Detroit arena since the days of old Cobo Hall (less the couple of seasons that they played in Joe Louis Arena when the roof of the Pontiac Silverdome, then the Pistons' home, collapsed).  The NHL, when it's actually playing games, has stayed essentially pure on this matter, but that league has been the exception to the rule.

I've heard some rumblings about the decision by the Angels setting some kind of a bad precedent if it's allowed to stand (MLB has presumably approved this decision, though legal action is being threatened by Anaheim, Los Angeles, the Dodgers organization, the Field Poll, the NCAA and the United Nations, for all I know), but it's pretty hard to imagine why anyone would feel the need to follow Moreno's lead.  The Angels are doing this only because they have an unusual agreement and can't simply change their name to the Los Angeles Angels, without the appendage.  It would be as if the Texas Rangers wanted to change their name to the Dallas Rangers but had to go by the Dallas Rangers of Arlington.  Or if the Twins wanted to change their name to the Minneapolis Twins of Minnesota.  (When they were still playing at old Metropolitan Stadium, they might have gone by the Minneapolis Twins of Bloomington.  Or the St. Paul Twins of Bloomington.)  Last year, the Expos really were the Montreal Expos of San Juan, at least part of the time.  If they'd wanted to be creative, they could be, from now on, the Montreal Expos of Washington.  What about the Devil Rays?  Couldn't they be the St. Petersburg Devil Rays of Tampa Bay?

All of which leads us back to Bob Rohrman.  One of Rohrman's Chicago area dealerships is a Toyota lot in suburban Westmont.  Westmont is a non-descript suburb about 20 miles west of the Loop.  Bordering Westmont is the exclusive suburb of Oak Brook, one of the wealthiest communities, per capita, in the country.  The dealership, of course, is known as "Bob Rohrman's Oak Brook Toyota in Westmont."  And that's what this Angels thing reminds me of:  

Come on down to Arte Moreno's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and check out the great deals for the whole family.  2.9% APR financing or a $1500 rebate with every season ticket package.

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