LEFTOVERS: Kings’ win (expletive) exciting
It looks as if the Los Angeles Kings have this victory parade thing down pat.
Monday’s celebration of the team’s second Stanley Cup championship in three years went from the sublime — players drinking margaritas out of the Cup on Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show — to the ridiculous — coach Darryl Sutter taking off his shirt — to the obscene — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti dropping an F-bomb during the rally at Staples Center.
“There are two rules in politics,” Garcetti said to the thousands who attended the party. “They say never ever be pictured with a drink in your hand. And never, ever swear. ... But this is a big (expletive) day. Way to go, guys.”
Appearing with Kimmel later Monday, Garcetti got a loud round of cheers when Kimmel told him, “I enjoyed your performance at the rally today.”
Garcetti replied: “I got a little ahead of myself. But you’ve got to remember, we didn’t win at lawn bowling, we won in hockey. ... Kids out there, do not say what your mayor said today.”
Several Kings players were still sporting their playoff beards at the celebration, grown during the two months of the postseason. Either they don’t know that it’s OK to shave them now, or they’re cutting a deal to shave for profit or charity. Hopefully, it will be for the latter.
■ GIRAFFE GAFFE — In an attempt to show support for the U.S. men’s national soccer team, Delta Air Lines used its Twitter account to let its followers know that the Americans defeated Ghana 2-1 on Monday in their World Cup opener in Brazil.
No harm there, right? Uh, guess again. In an attempt to be creative, Delta posted a picture of the Statue of Liberty to represent the good ol’ USA with the score superimposed on the photo. For Ghana, Delta chose a photo of a giraffe. Problem is, there are no giraffes in Ghana, located in West Africa.
A nice piece of stereotyping by a company whose business is travel, don’t ya’ think? But Ghana is home to the warthog, so for its Saturday match with Germany, maybe Delta can find a nice warthog to represent the Black Stars.
Incidentally, Delta quickly apologized for the screw-up after getting obliterated on Twitter and took down the post with the score.
■ WILD THING — Remember Daniel Bard, the hard-throwing pitcher with the Boston Red Sox? He’s trying to make it back to the majors, but he’s sure doing it the hard way.
The control problems that plagued him in Boston still appear to be with him in Single A. Bard, a 28-year-old right-hander who spent five seasons with the Red Sox before injuries resulted in his release, pitched two-thirds of an inning Sunday for the Hickory (N.C.) Crawdads and allowed four runs without recording an out against the Lakewood (N.J.) Blueclaws. He walked two and hit two.
In four appearances with the Crawdads, affiliated with the Texas Rangers, Bard has allowed 13 runs without allowing a hit. But he has walked nine and hit seven.
Maybe a pair of those Rick Vaughn glasses might be the answer to straighten out Bard’s control issues.
COMPILED BY STEVE CARP LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
