The Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, the Santa Ana Drags, Huntington Beach surfers, Santa Cruz surfers and OC-bred quarterbacks Matt Leinart, Colt Brennan and Mark Sanchez wind up in this week's especially sporty compilation of things said about or from Orange County on the Interwebs.
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Feeling Blue The question before readers is, “Why did the
Anaheim Angels change their name to the Los Angeles Angels?” Fans did
not answer, foes did. Naked Mole Rat: “The
Org. thought it best to do that cuz the title 'Los Angeles' would make
MORE $$$ than Anaheim. Silly though, cuz Los Angeles means 'Angels' in
Spanish. So they're the Angels Angels if you think about it.
Whatever…they'll lose to the Yankees anyway.” GO BLUE!: “Because
their owner is an idiot. They are jealous of the Dodgers and they just
had to take our name, too. They freakin' play in a totally different
county. Orange County is theirs, L.A. county is ours. It just doesn't
make sense. I have never nor will I ever call them L.A. Angels because
they are the ANAHEIM Angels. Go Blue!!” Sephiroth: “Because they're
posers. Simple as that. GO DODGERS!” (Santa Barbara Solutions)
Door Matt Some sports wags still have a soft spot for Matt
Leinart, the USC and Santa Ana Mater Dei High School quarterback god
who went on to stumble with the Arizona Cardinals. Jason Goch of the
Sporting News Radio calls Cards coach Ken Whisenhunt's decision to cut Leinart at the start of the season “the single worst coaching decision of the 2010 NFL season.” Goch maintains Leinart, who later signed on to become the Houston Texans' third-stringer, would have been better behind the center in Arizona than ineffective starter Derek Anderson. But a Neil's Diamonds blogger Neil believes Leinart, in pushing his way out of Tempe, “should get some award for the worst business decision in the NFL.” Leinart even gets dragged into debates he has no control over. For
instance, Carlos Lehder writes for Music City Miracles, a Tennessee
Titans fan site, that he wishes coach Jeff Fisher would have drafted his
fellow USC alum Leinart. “Then he would have already been fired,” Lehder reasons, “and
Matt Leinart would have been another of his busts that he coached.” What
is it with Leinart firing up Titans' fans? Scott Tunstall at Gunaxin
wants to award the Titans' Kerry Collins “The Matt Leinart Award for QB
Ineptitude.” (The Sporting News Radio) (Neil's Diamonds) (Music City Miracles) (Gunaxin)
Dirty Sanchez TheDirty.com, a gossipy site with pages in cities around the country, is
manned in Newport Beach by Nik Richie, who one of his readers notes is
the most famous and successful alum out of Mission Viejo High School.
New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez comes in second. “For a
second,” writes the reader, “I was thinking that Mark Sanchez deserves
that title with the
way he has been playing the past few weeks, but after last night's
performance he proved to me why he will always be number 2.” The last
night the reader refers to was the 45-3 drubbing of the Jets by the New
England Patriots. “After last night's performance,
he is a disgrace to all MVHS students, faculty and alumni,” Richie piles
on. “I almost want
to say I went to Servite or Mater Dei the way he embarrassed us last
night. The guy is a joke and needs to be playing for the Raiders where
he belongs. What do you think bandwagon OC Charger fans whose favorite
football player is Mark Sanchez (how does that make any sense)?” Richie
then drags Leinart into a debate he has no control over: “[Sanchez] will
never be #1 MVHS alumni, and I give him 4 more seasons before he is
shipped off to hold a clipboard like Leinart.” (The Dirty)
Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me Colt Brennan went from being Leinart's back-up at Mater Dei to starting
there, to eventually starting at the University of Hawaii and finally a
selection by the Washington Redskins. He was out of football hoping for a
call-up before he recently got in a horrific traffic accident on the
Big Island of Hawaii. His release from the hospital was considered
newsworthy enough for the minds behind a weight-loss website, but
hopefully no one will read the headline over the item like it's a
weight-loss recommendation: “PFT: Brennan Released From Hospital;
Amazing Weight Loss Diet.” (Amazing Weight Loss Diet)
Surf City, Here We Scrum A post congratulating new Huntington Beach City Councilman Joe Shaw as the only openly gay elected official in Orange County devolved into a Santa Cruz-Huntington Beach Surf City debate in the comments section. Both towns claimed the nickname until the city of Huntington Beach successfully sued for sole custody. After talking about spending time in Huntington Beach in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a fellow named Fritz laments that one a recent return visit, “The entire beach area had been transformed into what looked more like an adult amusement park” before adding, “BTW, Santa Cruz will always be the real Surf City!” “Oh, Fritz, them's fighting words down here in sunny Southern California,” replies Lynda. “I honestly can't believe how many times a year 'Surf City' is brought up and debated. NO ONE in Huntington Beach is ever going to agree with you. Never ever ever. And for the sake of your own safety, don't ever say that out loud if you visit there again.” Fritz riffs on Lynda's last line, “I guess that's one thing that hasn't changed about Huntington. There were always violent punks ready and willing to stab you for a spot on the beach. I was actually involved in nasty riot there one year. They turned over police cars and set them on fire. It all started when the tide came in during a surf competition and people started crowding back to get out of the water.” Seeing as how this was an alternative lifestyle forum, he adds, “And, Santa Cruz has always been gay-friendly. Wink.” But, to another commenter's contention that, “You never say the words 'Surf City' and 'Santa Cruz' in the same breath,” Fritz replies (no doubt with a wink), “Unless you actually surf.” (Joe.My.God)
Vroom, Vroom . . . We'll end with color 8mm silent
film footage documenting the Santa Ana Drags. No, this is not another gay sports reference, it's the cars and bikes running down the Santa Ana airstrip in the early 1950s. The poster found it “fascinating to see how few safety procedures or equipment requirements
were in place at the time. Very few helmets, roll bars, or seatbelts to
be found, and spectators walking all over the track.” Ah, the good old days! (Jalopy Journal)
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.