What was the highlight of the Angels' 1967 season? Most people would answer "They hosted the All Star Game". I would answer "Don Mincher's amazing offensive season in the depths of the deadball era". But the idiots will never listen. They will gloss over anything veers from a saccharin narrative written long ago to glorify an easily broadcast highlight reel, all of your feelings, memories and passion distilled into an ether that swirls near a predictable pastiche of faded film footage.
What was the highlight of the Angels' 1989 season? Most people would answer "They hosted the All Star Game". I would ignore the Bo Jackson blast and the Ronald Reagan cameo at the microphone and answer "They would have been the Wild Card if it had existed that season". But the idiots will never listen, will deny that the bulge brothers up in Oakland had competition, were anything near mortal or threatened, will fast forward to that doomed world series without a mention of the 162 could'ves would'ves and should'ves. Well I remember joining Bob Rowe after the game for Angel Talk and they cannot erase my perspective on that season for all the market share in the mid-sized markets and outlier demographics.
And so when they ask "What was the highlight of the Angels' 2010 season?, I won't answer "Snuggie Night" or "Kendry's Walk-Off Slam" or "Andrew Gallo's sentence" or "Wasting five high draft picks at the Eddie Bane casino" or "The stupidest throng of media following the dullest power hitter of his generation as he took four months to warm up for a tepid late summer of thankless bashing". No and I won't answer "A dull All Star game with the one deserving Angel not making an appearance and the undeserving media star Angel striking out at the most critical juncture of the contest".
I have two more things to mention about the Angels 2010 season that were better than the All Star Game and all its surrounding hype, merchandise and Mickey Mouse statuary. But those can wait for tomorrow and the final day of the year. For now, let's acknowledge that Baseball's midseason mixer did take place here and that we did not humiliate ourselves and that the logo was not so terrible as to embarrass anything approximating permanence. Okay? Okay. yeah, it was all cool I guess. There.