The Chirp: Pujols gives Angels some schooling in respect, sort of.

(The Chirp) -- It sure didn't take long for new favorite son Albert Pujols to have to lay out his new West Coast fanship.  See folks, don't you know?  Don't call him El Hombre.

First of all, many of us back in the "Lou" are quietly laughing our behinds off, remembering the day back in 2009, during the All Star Game, when during the Home Run Derby, Albert famously announced that the name "El Hombre" is not appropriate, because no matter what language, there is only one "El Hombre", and his name is Stan "The Man" Musial.

Fact is few people, minus one or two local newspaper writers ever really called him that.  But the moniker managed to weave it's away into the pre-All Star Game conversation, and too his credit, Pujols said what he had to say, and he was right.

But, now an Angel, Pujols is the focal point of the Angels' 2012 marketing campaign, which includes 70 billboards throughout Southern California, most featuring the new slugger and several that refer to the former St. Louis Cardinals star as "El Hombre," The Man.

According to the LA Times, Pujols said this regarding the billboards: "I feel the same way," Pujols said before Wednesday morning's workout in Tempe Diablo Stadium. "I had nothing to do with [the Angels billboards]. They haven't talked to me about it but I prefer they not use that."

The Times reports that Tim Mead, Angels vice president of communications, said the team is not required to seek approval for how a player might be portrayed in an advertising or marketing campaign, adding that "El Hombre" has a different meaning in Southern California than it does in St. Louis.

"The reason he had those sentiments in St. Louis is different -- they were out of respect and deference to someone else," Mead said. "He was saying, 'I'm not The Man, Stan Musial is.' We're marketing Albert Pujols, Angels baseball, and I just think there's a tremendous difference in context."

Difference in context?  Mead is grasping at straws and everyone in Cardinal Nation knows it.  It appears marketing trumps decency in this matter, as the Angels clearly are going to market in whatever manner they see fit and attempt to trample on the good name of a baseball institution.  I say attempt, because they'll fail.  Pujols, if he has an ounce of decency within him, and we know he does, will rise up even more forcefully and demand the Angels "market" him a different way.