At least they aren't the Ducks *

How lame is Arte Moreno's new name for his Orange County baseball team? It's so bad that Thursday's New York Times runs an editorial calling the proposal "a bit of geographic Dadaism."

Sometimes an idea comes along that is so stupid, all you can do is stand back, give it some room, and stare:

THE LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM

That is the new official name of a major league baseball team in Southern California that (1) does not play in Los Angeles, (2) is not moving to Los Angeles and (3) has no plans to put "Los Angeles" on its uniforms.

London's Financial Times already took its shot. Here's a bit of blog verse dedicated to Mr. Moreno, and longtime Angels fan Matt Welch writes on his blog: "Not only do the Angels look foolish to the outside world, but this is a bitch-slap to at least (I'd reckon) three-quarters of their fan base. I'm an L.A. patriot, never lived in Orange County (though the Long Beach area I'm from is culturally more OC than LA), and even *I* feel dissed."

* Speaking of names: Ken Reich suggests that the local paper rename itself the Los Angeles Times of Chicago.

Previously: Angels return to L.A.