"Los Angeles is seventy-two suburbs in search of a city," Dorothy Parker famously sniffed, and this identity crisis has often extended to the diversity of this city's cultural influences. Los Angeles offers just about everything, yet very few of these offerings are indigenous. And that includes the inspirations for the names of our professional sports teams, past and present.
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
*A galaxy of stars makes sense for Los Angeles. But they're not called the Los Angeles Galaxy of Stars.
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
**Finally, a name that makes sense!
Hat tips:
Chapter 67 of Jon Weisman's 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die for the idea. (Book review forthcoming.)
SportsLogos.Net for some of the more obscure logos.
10 comments:
How dare you forget Chivas USA. The better soccer/futbol team in L.A.
LA Express? LA Gridlock would've been a more fitting name.
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." -classic-
You gotta grant that The Angels' name comes from Los Angeles. Except they don't play there. No one ever called Anaheim heaven ("Ana's home?" Actually, it's almost that: http://www.anaheimcolony.com/name.htm )
The weird part of the "Los Angeles" Angels is that in spanish, it comes to "The Angels Angels".
Come on Bulldog, you gotta give credit to the Galaxy of Angels. Galaxy makes sense for the reason you pointed out, calling themselves the "Galaxy of Stars" obviously wouldn't work, thus the name "Galaxy. Plus, Los Angeles (The Angels) is the "City of Angels". Angels is a good name for a team in LA......too bad they aren't in LA. Looks like Anaheim is suffering from an identity crisis too.
oops, the "Galaxy AND Angels". Galaxy of Angels would be one trippy name.
"How dare you forget Chivas USA."
The team had to have "Los Angeles" in its name.
I hear you on The Angels Angels. Should have done a little more research.
Trolley Dodgers, represent!
And technically, it's Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles, so it could be The Angels of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels. Which is hard to fit on the jersey.
It wouldn't be so bad if it were just Los Angeles Angels, or the best -- Anaheim Angels. But the hybrid is just dreck.
Anaheim itself is a hybrid name: the Ana from the Santa Ana river and Heim from the German, meaning home. So they're used to being schizo down there. ;)
The thing is that no one likes the LA Angels of Anaheim. The whole point of the renaming was to get more Angelinos to follow the Halos, but everyone in LA hates the title and resents the change.
One more thing...
I think the fact that so many of LA's teams were originally from other cities them moved to LA is, itself, an indigenous trait of LA. LA became one of the world's most prominent cities after millions made the move way out west.
Post a Comment