The True Test of an Angels’ Fan: My Personal Tribute to My Fellow Fans

Post date: Oct 7, 2013 11:35:32 PM

What is the test of a true Angels’ fan? Well, it begins by waiting and making sure all the bandwagon fans have jumped ship, the second step is to figure out ways to cope with the drought of four years of not making a playoff appearance. Today is my birthday, and as a birthday present to myself I’m not going to concentrate this entry on analytics; rather, I’m going to focus on something that deserves all the credit in the world, yet rarely gets any recognition at all, the Angels’ fan base.

For the past 10 years from 2003 to this past season in 2013 Angels’ fans have flocked to Angel Stadium, in this time span more than 3,000,000 fans per season have shown up in the ballpark. That is simply astonishing, some Dodgers’ fans stated on social networks that the Angels in their opinion do not have as strong of a fan base as the Dodgers, to them, I say, the statistics say otherwise; have the Dodgers drawn over 3,000,000 fans a season over the last 10 years? I highly doubt it. The sustained loyalty of our fan base cannot be easily matched. With such loyal and dedicated fans how could one even think about leaving Anaheim?

The Angels signed a lease with the city of Anaheim through the 2029 season however, the Angels can option out after the 2016 season; leaving more questions than answers.

Rumors over the last couple of years have hinted at just that, the Angels leaving Anaheim for greener pastors in the City Of Industry, where the Angels would get a new stadium on the same plot of land that was one of the proposed sites for a new NFL stadium designed to bring football back to the Los Angeles area, this bid was the eventual loser to the winning bid submitted by AEG to construct Farmers Field.

Luckily for Angels’ fans this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. The Angels organization is currently in negotiations with the city of Anaheim to keep the team at Angel Stadium, one of the major points of negotiation is dropping the “of Anaheim” from the team name. This is something that the city of Anaheim seems to be amenable to; a complete about-face from just a few years ago.

The mind boggling question is why would the Angels owner consider moving the team? He has a very strong foundation in Orange County, 3,000,000 fans a season over the last 10 years is no small feat. If indeed he were to move the team, he would be risking a severe attendance drop by directly competing with the Dodgers. In my opinion, a lot of Angels’ fans would be left with a bad impression of the team, an impression of abandonment that frankly wouldn’t sit well with the majority of the fans in Orange County.

Still, we flock to the ballpark like a swarm of kids flocking to an ice cream truck on a sweltering hot day. Why would Arturo Moreno take the risk of moving the team to a city where frankly they’re not wanted? Gene Autry knew this, that’s why he moved the team from Los Angeles to Anaheim in the mid-1960s. In Orange County, this team is unequivocally loved. That is indeed why I will always have respect for a strong, unshakable, diehard fan base that I’m proud to say I’m a part of, so yes, four years have gone by without a playoff appearance and although that hurts it doesn’t hurt as much as the possibility of this team leaving Anaheim. This is why Angels’ fans are in the middle of an exam testing their strength, perseverance, and loyalty, a test that I know we will pass with flying colors. This is why I decided to write this tribute because although this team did not make a playoff appearance, we remain strong, now, and forever.

-ICE