Another blanket indictment of warm-n-fuzzy feeling promotions

When the Cleveland Cavs played a game on March 5, it convinced enough of their fans help establish a new Guinness World Record -- the sellout crowd all wore a fleece blanket at the same time at Quicken Loans Arena.

That's 20,562 according to a Guinness adjudicator. See how happy they all are with themselves? They all got a commemorative magnet certifying their participation at the record-breaking event.

Said Cavaliers President Len Komorosk (linked here): "Our fans were an integral part of the success to give Cleveland the bragging rights of a Guinness World Record."

Not so fast, my King James arena hogs. The Angels can't leave well enough alone.

The team announced Tuesday that on April 6 -- the Tuesday after the season opener -- when the play Minnesota at Angels Stadium, that fleece record will go down like a smelly towel.

All fans in attendance will be given a free Hideki Matsui blankie. At some point during the contest, everyone in the stands -- the team anticipates a crowd in excess of 40,000 -- will be asked to wear their blankie for five minutes. At that point, a Guinness World Record adjudicator will certify the record and hold a ceremony to announce the achievement.

Just as long as they get more than, say, 20,000. According to the Angels' press release on this, the Cavs' record stands at 17,758. The story we found above clearly states about 3,000 more than that.

The Angels say this is the first franchise attempt at setting a record. The Dodgers are alreadyin the Guinness World Record book for attracting the most fans in the history of sports (if you add up the tickets bought season after season ... it adds up fast).

But if the Dodgers really wanted to burst the Angels' record bubble on this one, it could try to top it on May 4. That's the day they're giving out a fleece "This is my Town" blanket to the first 50,000 fans.

Dodger Stadium holds more than Angels Stadium. About 15,000 more. It's just a matter of size.

And it could give USC or UCLA an idea once football season starts this fall .... in other words, this could never end.

Death by fleece.

Say, one more question? Do dogs count in the record? If so, the next time this is broken could at the Westminster Kennel Club event.