The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Moreno 1, Pringle 0: the jury said Arte can call 'em The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Juror Jack Clay, a construction inspector for the Port of Los Angeles, said he was not swayed by emotional appeals from Anaheim attorneys and focused instead on the contract.

"There were no witnesses to give you any information on intent, and without intent, what do you have? You have the contract," said Clay, a Huntington Beach resident.

I don't really have a dog in this fight: I don't live in Los Angeles or Anaheim. I'd rather see some improvement in the hitting than the name. But since Arte's paying the bills and has shown that he knows what he's doing I'm happy he got what he wanted.

As for Mayor Pringle. Oh, my. The jury wasn't terribly impressed by his imaginary loss of $100 million dollars in tourist revenue. (How does he figure that? Will Los Angeles have thousands of baseball fans wandering the streets and staying at the Bonaventure who wanted to attend an Angel game but were irretrievably confused by the name "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim"?) And then there's the very real $2 million in court costs that are now up the spout. That needs to be explained to the voters. Good luck, Curt.

[ADDENDUM: An article in this morning's, i.e., Saturday's, Times says that the legal bill for the good citizens on the tax rolls of Anaheim is going to be closer to $10 million than $2 million. Good luck, indeed.]