They Talk a Different Game

You’ve heard all the flapping about a new name for Emilio Estevez’s favorite hockey team, right?

From the way the wide-eyed new owners of the Anaheim club talked Monday, it has already been changed.

From Ducks to “Duck!”

Henry Samueli, considerably off his quacker buying a team in a league that doesn’t exist, filled his introductory news conference with his only tangible sports asset.

“It’s about passion!” he said, and, as we soon learned, he wasn’t ordering iced tea.

Duck!

Samueli waited all of about five minutes before nudging neighbor Arte Moreno, announcing a 5% drop in ticket prices.

“We didn’t think about beer; our focus was on tickets, which we think is the most important thing,” he said.

Duck!

Samueli had yet to break a manicured sweat before firing a shot at the Kings, claiming his team would be better, although nobody asked.

“We want fans in Southern California to come watch the best hockey in Southern California -- and that’s going to be here,” he said.

Duck!

As the first local owner in Orange County pro sports history, Samueli quickly sneaked in a punch at absentee owners, notable in that their ranks include the Kings’ Phil Anschutz.

“It’s very important to have hometown ownership,” said the Corona del Mar resident. “You can sense when other owners don’t live there. Decisions are made on business reasons, not passion reasons.”

Duck!

Samueli thinks so little of the name “Mighty Ducks” that he is going to put it to a fan vote.

It seems clear that, at the very least, the name “Mighty” will be stripped from the name after next season to sever the team’s connection to a children’s movie.

“If the majority of fans want to change it, we’ll change it,” he said. “It’s their team.”

Duck!

Samueli deftly sideswiped Angel owner Moreno when he openly laughed about the possibility of adding “Los Angeles” to the name of the team.

“The Mighty Ducks will always be Anaheim,” he said. “The team plays in Anaheim. That’s what its name should be.”

Duck!

Samueli strung the team over a smoldering media fire by hiring controversial Brian Burke as general manager.

Burke, a former league official and general manager in Hartford and Vancouver, is suing a writer, claiming defamation of character, has openly supported thug Todd Bertuzzi, and generally works with all the subtlety of a leaf blower.

“They’re going to do it my way or they’re going to find somewhere else to play,” Burke said.

Duck!

Samueli threatened to alienate any remaining Duck fans by giving Burke complete power to hire a coach.

Which, if you listen to Burke, means that stodgy-but-successful Mike Babcock could soon be history.

“I am in the entertainment business,” Burke said.

Duck!

Samueli ended his discussion by saying his favorite team sport was -- basketball.

Basketball?

This supports the notion that this purchase is about really clearing the floor for an NBA team to come to the Samueli-operated Arrowhead Pond.

When the same guy runs the arena and owns its only tenant, that gives him lots of flexibility to attract another tenant.

Say, the Sacramento Kings?

“It certainly can help,” Samueli said of his dual roles. “The door is open, I’d be really happy to take an NBA team.”

If Samueli wanted to be a hockey owner so badly, would he have ordered his representatives to claim he wasn’t interested in the Ducks when he took over control of the Pond two years ago?

Some think by buying the Ducks he’s playing defense, keeping the arena warm until an NBA team can join them.

Despite being a rich Orange County sports fan during the Ducks’ time here, he has never owned hockey season tickets.

“If I had to pick one sport as my favorite, it would be skiing,” he said.

Skiing?

So the mogul ended the day talking about moguls, and it made as much sense as anything.

Samueli may be a little nutty, but he’s nerd nutty, smart enough to have a doctorate in electrical engineering, savvy enough to be worth $1.6 billion as the cofounder of Broadcom and sharp enough to pay only the price of a decent starting pitcher ($75 million) for an entire hockey team.

If it ever plays again, this team will apparently be used to embrace fans, to tweak neighbors, to court hoops, to challenge Kings, to make news like the Ducks have seldom made news before.

A starving sport and hungry city could do worse.