Anaheim Curse May Clip the Ducks’ Wings

Before plunging ahead with the Pond, perhaps Disney and the arena’s operators should pause a moment to consider the Anaheim Curse.

Or, more accurately, the curse that comes from giving Anaheim short shrift.

The city has two pro sports franchises that apparently think they’re from someplace else. Suffering, perhaps, from geographic dissonance, from locational vertigo, the California Angels and the Los Angeles Rams have never won a championship. Anaheim Angels or Orange County Angels would sound just nifty for the baseball team, and this franchise is so snake-bitten that maybe a change of name would bring a change of luck. A football team called the Anaheim Rams would probably hit the way the name sounds: like a battering ram.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim also are in danger of falling prey to the Curse--not only because of the team’s name, but the arena’s. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim? That “of Anaheim” sounds like an afterthought, an appendage, a tail feather to be shed with impunity. “The Pond in Anaheim” also puts the caboose in front of the engine. Consider the fate of the Anaheimless Angels and Rams, you Ducks, and be forewarned.