Angel Woes Offset by Wimbledon Title, Rushing Mark

In the fateful moment of the year in a county that has had better ones, Mo Vaughn peered at an ankle that swelled by the second and said, ever seriously, “Things happen.”

Do they ever.

Angel fans, of course, could forgive Vaughn’s sprained ankle, Gary DiSarcina’s broken arm and Tim Salmon’s bum wrist.

They might even have forgiven the losses. They have before.

But the character defects were simply too grievous to be forgiven, and wholly too offensive to be forgotten.

How easy it would be, then, to label 1999 as The Year the Angels Made a Mockery of Themselves and Their Sport.

After all, this wasn’t your usual Angel disaster. Oh no, this one was special, much in the way a chipped front tooth is special. If they thought it felt bad, they should consider how bad it looked.

Or, in the wake of all that, 1999 might have been The Year Disney Tried to Turn Its Almighty Profit and Slink Away.

Except every time Henry T. Nicholas III drove past The Ed or the Pond, Broadcom investors threw themselves on their portfolios. So Michael Eisner was left to do the right thing, and now former shareholders talk about Disney stock like they do influenza. That is, they wouldn’t ever want to get that again.

It might have been The Year of Either One of Those Things. Only, the Angels and Disney left the impression that there is so much more there, as if they only scratched the surface of their potentials for disgrace and disappointment.

So, let’s forget that a bad comb-over and an open notebook amounted to truth serum in the Angel clubhouse.

“Really, I’d rather not say. Honestly, no comment. Wait a second, is that spiral bound? Well, then, just between you and me, you should know that MO DID IT! IT’S MO’S FAULT! AND TERRY! IT’S TERRY’S FAULT TOO! AND EDMONDS! HE’S THE GUY YOU WANT! SOMEBODY STOP ME! AAAAH!”

This was the only clubhouse in America with confessionals instead of lockers. The Angels did for the concept of teamwork what Richie Phillips did for employed umpires. Their clubhouse had all the goodwill of dinner time at the Clintons.

Angel President Tony Tavares put it all in perspective for the fans when he likened the clubhouse to “a day-care center,” and questioned the conventional wisdom that a team can’t fire its players--all of them.

“People are always making excuses, like it’s the curse,” Tavares said. “It’s bull. There are reasons why it hasn’t worked here. In the past, maybe the organization hasn’t challenged itself to find those answers.”

The season wasn’t yet over when the purge began, first with Manager Terry Collins and then with General Manager Bill Bavasi, both self-inflicted. Then a dozen scouts and a farm director and a scouting director. It is assumed that players and payroll will follow, but that’s a story for the review of 2000.

So now let us recall what sports gave to Orange County in 1999, other than 92 defeats, a last-place finish in the American League West and a baseball season that captured our interest for, oh, about eight minutes, at which time Vaughn fell down the stairs and the Angels didn’t get up.

It was enough to live through it the first time.

Things happen.

Between all of the crummy stuff, it was The Year of Lindsay Davenport, who won Wimbledon when tennis otherwise couldn’t take its eyes off the Williamses.

It was The Year of U.S. Women’s World Cup Soccer, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett smack in the middle of it.

It was The Year of Shawn Green, who came home--or close to home.

It was The Year of Eric Dickerson, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It was The Year of the Mighty Ducks, who, ahem, “extended” the Detroit Red Wings to four games in a best-of-seven playoff series.

It was The Year of the Tiger on the PGA Tour. Woods, born in Cypress and a graduate of Western High, won eight tour events--in La Jolla; Dublin, Ohio; Lemont, Ill.; Medinah, Ill.; Akron, Ohio; Lake Buena Vista, Fla.; Houston, and San Roque (Cadiz) Andalucia, Spain. He also won three international events, the Showdown at Sherwood and helped capture the Ryder Cup.

“Tiger,” Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal said, “is playing like the angels do.”

(Hey, Jose, around here that’s a cheap shot.)

Woods won $6.6 million, or about $1 million more than Jack Nicklaus did--in his entire 18-major-winning career. He became exactly what had been expected of him, an immense burden Woods has carried with dignity.

Individually, it was his year.

Unless it was Davenport’s.

The Newport Beach resident won the singles and doubles championships at Wimbledon and regained her No. 1 world ranking.

By defeating defending champion Jana Novotna in the quarterfinals, Alexandra Stevenson in the semis and Steffi Graf in the final, Davenport became just the third American-born woman to win Wimbledon in the Open Era.

“It’s almost like a dream,” she said then. “When I won I was almost more numb than in shock.”

Holding the silver Rosewater Dish, Davenport gushed, “It’s the most beautiful trophy I have ever seen.”

It might have been her year.

Unless it was Dickerson’s.

On Aug. 7, the former L.A. Ram with the straight-up style and goggles was presented by former teammate Jackie Slater and inducted into the Hall of Fame. He went in with Lawrence Taylor, Ozzie Newsome and Tom Mack, among others.

In an amazing run, Dickerson gained 1,808, 2,105, 1,234, 1,821 and 1,288 yards over five seasons with the Rams, for whom he led the NFL in rushing twice.

It might have been his year.

Unless it was Foudy’s and Fawcett’s, whose exhilarating work this summer as critical components of the U.S. women’s World Cup soccer team resulted in a gold medal.

On a Saturday afternoon in July, on the floor of the Rose Bowl, Fawcett, Foudy and their teammates set a nation aglow with a shootout victory that followed 120 scoreless minutes against China.

Goalkeeper Briana Scurry made the save and Brandi Chastain scored the game-winner, then struck the celebratory pose that both delighted and mortified soccer fans.

A midfielder, Foudy, 28, had a goal and three assists in the tournament. Fawcett, a 31-year-old defender, had a goal and an assist. She scored one of the gold-medal shootout goals before a crowd of 90,185, the largest ever for a women’s sporting event.

It all happened not far from where they were raised, an experience Shawn “need tickets” Green will relive about 80 times a year, since he and Newport Beach-based agent Jeff Moorad concocted the blockbuster trade from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Dodgers. Green, from Tustin, subsequently signed with the Dodgers for $84 million over six seasons.

As we attempt to forget the Angels, not a particularly daunting task, we would be remiss if we did not recall Scotty Lang, the likable Fountain Valley High football lineman who died on the school’s practice field.

Four days later, his friends played courageously in his memory. His parents watched from the bleachers at Long Beach Veterans Stadium. All over Fountain Valley there were T-shirts with his picture on them, buttons with his jersey number on them, and prayers with his name in them.

It was that tragedy that infused perspective into all that was accomplished and all that went unachieved this year.

Skyler Champion, the Foothill High tailback, rushed for a county-record 527 yards in one game.

Four Cal State Fullerton baseball players were arrested, suspended, then reinstated in time for the College World Series.

Kellee Booth earned her LPGA Tour card, former Fullerton Coach Billie Moore was elected into the basketball Hall of Fame, and Michael Chang failed to win a professional tournament for the first time since 1987.

Huntington Beach High Principal Jim Staunton become Southern Section commissioner, Long Beach State volleyball standout Misty May, from Newport Harbor High, was the nation’s outstanding female college athlete, and the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball program was placed on four years’ probation.

At $33 a crack, UC Irvine students voted to pump life and cash into a decaying athletic program, and the NHL docked the Mighty Ducks’ Ruslan Salei one-eighth of his season when he shoved Mike Modano into the boards.

Oh, the Angels tried to rally at the end. They hired Bill Stoneman to replace Bavasi and Mike Scioscia to replace Collins, both good enough guys, if somewhat short on job experience.

Finally, however, they lost Chuck Finley, their only link to their last postseason appearance in 1986. He bolted to the Cleveland Indians via free agency, of his own will, after 14 years, forced off by his own desire to have more to show for a career than empty personal victories.

Of all the Angels who would be asked to leave, of all who could not return, Finley is the one who will be most missed.

But let’s put that in the past, once and for all.

As The Big Man himself said, “Things happen.”