Tony Tavares

It's nights like Wednesday that make Tony Tavares' blood boil and his stomach churn. As his first year as Angel president drones on, Tavares finds the club's uninspired play no easier to take now than he did back in June or July. It grates on his nerves, to be sure. But it also has strengthened his resolve to turn the Angels into winners. He's certain he doesn't want to come to Anaheim Stadium next year, see it more than half empty and hear those who are there rooting for the opponents.

So here they are at the All-Star break, foundering when almost everyone predicted they would be flying. The Angels have had five winning streaks of four games or more, including two seven-game streaks. They also have had seven losing streaks of four games or more, including two six-game skids. Is this any way to win a division title?

On its first day in control of the Angels, the Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday revamped the front office and considered changes in the team's logo, colors and name. Tony Tavares--president of Disney Sports Enterprises, which also runs the NHL's Mighty Ducks--took command as club president, replacing Richard Brown. As expected, Brown, Angel president for six years, was not retained. He receives a three-year severance package worth about $1 million, according to sources.

I've never understood people like David Day of Chino (Sports Viewpoint, May 10) who decry all of the "Johnny-come-lately" fans who suddenly turn out whenever a team achieves some success. David, you should be thanking every one of these people for shelling out $67 for an upper-deck playoff seat, because all of that extra revenue makes it more likely that Disney will retain the players who have gotten the Mighty Ducks this far. The true measure of success in sports is sustained excellence, not a one-year aberration.

The Angels won the World Series. The Mighty Ducks are in the Stanley Cup finals. Tony Tavares, the man who once ran both teams, sits in a windowless office in the creaky old stadium here, without a championship ring on his finger. From the time Disney took control of the Angels in 1996, to the time he resigned in January 2002, the oft-combative Tavares oversaw both teams, during an era in which few imagined a championship parade for either one.

The fans had walked away from Disney's sports teams. On Friday, Tony Tavares followed them. Tavares, who ran the Angels and Mighty Ducks, resigned as president of Disney's Anaheim Sports subsidiary. "Any kind of losing is my regret," Tavares said. "Losing money and losing on the field makes a job like this unbearable." The teams lost games, lost money and lost fans, and Disney executives did not try to dissuade Tavares from his decision. "Tony came to us and said he thought it was time to go.

As a longtime season-ticket holder for the Angels and Mighty Ducks, I was overjoyed last Saturday morning when I read that Tony Tavares had resigned his position with the organization. That joy is tempered by the fact, though, that Disney still remains the owner. The quicker Disney sells the teams to a committed ownership group, the better off the Orange County sports community will be. Too bad Michael Eisner and Pierre Gauthier didn't resign with Tavares. Then the Ducks would have had a hat trick.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig moved closer Thursday to hiring Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as manager of the Montreal Expos and former Angel boss Tony Tavares as team president. Selig has been talking with baseball officials about putting together a management staff for the Expos, a high-ranking baseball official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The Expos are being sold to the other 29 clubs as part of baseball's unusual ownership shifts.

In five months as general manager of the Montreal Expos, Omar Minaya has made seven trades. In those five months, Bill Stoneman has made no trades. In his three years as general manager of the Angels, Stoneman has made nine. The Angels' need for help is more urgent after three relievers and the starting catcher were put on the disabled list within the past three weeks, but Stoneman has yet to make a deal, even for a middle reliever.

Bill Stoneman hasn't made a trade, hasn't signed a major free agent, hasn't clearly explained his grand vision and hasn't inspired Angel fans to do much of anything except scratch their heads and toss their ticket renewal forms into the trash can. So, on behalf of his embattled new general manager, Angel President Tony Tavares asked fans a blunt question. "My message to them is, do you really want more of the same?" Tavares said.