LEFTOVERS: Well-suited, even Obama would agree

The world champion Boston Red Sox visited the White House on Tuesday, and while David Ortiz was getting a selfie with President Barack Obama on his iPhone, Jonny Gomes was stealing the show with his wardrobe.

Gomes appeared at the function in a stars and stripes sports jacket, white pants and blue shoes. Even the president was impressed, telling the outfielder, “Nice jacket.”

All Red Sox players were supposedly going to wear similar outfits. Instead, the others opted for conventional dark suits, maybe in homage to the Secret Service. But Gomes stood out — in more ways than one.

■ WHY CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS? — When is a hockey fight not a hockey fight? When the combatants decide in advance to make love, not war.

Matt Puntureri and Jesse Felten decided to play an early April Fools’ Day joke Friday in a Federal Hockey League game between Danville and Dayton. Midway through the third period, Puntureri, a forward for Danville, engaged Felten, a center for Dayton, at center ice. The gloves were dropped, and it appeared the fans were going to get some boxing mixed in with their hockey.

Instead, the two embraced each other, and Puntureri pulled a can of beer from out of his hockey shorts, cracked it open and toasted his “enemy.” The pair proceeded to skate around the rink arm-in-arm, flashing the peace sign to the crowd.

“It was my idea, not to brag or anything,” Puntureri told si.com. “I’m always pulling silly antics like this, whether it be some celebrations or anything like that.”

The Federal League didn’t find it amusing. It suspended Felten for the playoffs, and Puntureri reportedly is facing a lifetime ban.

“I wouldn’t take back what happened, even if it meant getting suspended, I guess,” Felten said. “Punts has been a real good friend of mine, and it’s kind of upsetting to see what happened. But at the same time, it was all in good fun. It wasn’t meant to (expletive) the league off or make them look bad, even though they maybe took it that way.

“We’ve gotten a lot of attention over it, which has kind of been cool. It blew up more than we expected or planned for it to.”

Bottom line? That’s simply not the Federal League way. Just ask Ogie Oglethorpe or the Hanson brothers.

■ COSTLY PROPOSALS — Now that the major league baseball season has started, it means the dreaded public marriage proposals will fill the time between innings on scoreboards at most ballparks throughout the season.

But how much does it cost to ask someone to marry you? According to swimmingly.com, you can risk public humiliation for as little as $39 at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park or as much as $2,500 at Dodger Stadium. The Pirates will let you post a message on the scoreboard, while the Dodgers will give you full access to their video board for $2,500.

Most teams charge $50 to $250.

But if you’re a fan of the Mets, Blue Jays, Angels, Royals or Orioles, don’t bother trying. Those teams don’t participate in such shenanigans.

COMPILED BY STEVE CARP LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL