Boston mayor Thomas Menino was on hand at TD Garden on Monday for the unveiling of a statue honoring Boston Bruins great Bobby Orr. Menino was charged with delivering a series of prepared remarks to honor Orr on the 40th anniversary of the Bruins’ 1970 Stanley Cup Finals win.
Usually, that kind of honorary speech attracts little attention outside of the local market. Menino’s flawed deliverance, though, has turned the brief appearance into a national story. For one, he began with the following line: "In Boston, we have an amazing set of remarkable athletes whose actions in the moment have become ionic in sports.”
Yes, you read that correctly. Menino used the term ionic, clearly meaning to say iconic. The word ionic actually has multiple meanings, one being of, containing, or involving, ions. Perhaps the mayor was excited about this news, with Ionic Bulbs on the brain. He can be difficult to understand in most instances given his constant mumbling and thick Boston accent, but to mix up a word so blatantly made for quality entertainment.
The speech fail reached a whole new level, however, when Menino began divulging into said great Boston sports moments. The next line of his speech: “Havlicek stole the ball. Fisk waving the ball fair. Flutie launching the Hail Mary pass. Varitek splitting the uprights.”
By Varitek, of course, Menino meant former New England Patriots kicker Adam Vinateiri. I guess that blunder is a bit defensible, given that Jason Varitek’s last name at least begins with the same last letter. Plus, for all we know, Varitek at this rate could be more efficient kicking field goals than throwing out base stealers.
Here is the video:
In all honesty, Menino’s appearance made for solid humor on many different levels. For starters, how did nobody fact check his rough draft? He probably did not write it, anyway; was it Ty Burrell, the rant writer? What’s more, he should know better even if someone else did prepare the remarks. Boston holds itself up in many circles—at least according to Danny Boy—to be one of, if not the, best sporting cities in the United States. Given the passion of the fans here and the recent successes of the big three sports franchises in the area, it is hard to dispute that notion. Which makes the fact that the long-tenured mayor could make such an egregious mistake so surprising.
Then again, this is hardly the first time a Massachusetts politician has screwed up the facts when it came to sports. Of course, the biggest blunder of all came from the late Ted Kennedy, who referred to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as Mike McGwire and Sammy Sooser when introducing them at the White House.
Then there was Martha Coakley, whose last-minute Curt Schilling blunder, at least perception-wise, cost her a bit in the polls before losing to Republican Senator Scott Brown. Tauntr covered the story back in January.
Coakley, trying to make a joke linking her opponent, Republican Scott Brown, to known New York Yankees fan Rudy Giuliani, mistakenly claimed that Schilling was a Yankees fan as well.
Clearly, that wasn’t a bright strategy for a politician hoping to appeal to the voters in the heart of Red Sox nation. Schilling, a vocal supporter of the GOP, then came out swinging on his own blog, 38 Pitches.
… How can you live in Massachusetts—such a baseball-crazed state—and link arguably the most iconic and polarizing figure from the hometown team to its bitter rival? That’s just plain ignorance, and, since she was the one to bring up baseball, all it does is show a concerning lack of preparation. Plus, Schilling has been a vocal opponent against her candidacy from the get go. How could she not know that?
I must say, in terms of level of fail, I rank Menino’s recent comments at number three. The Kennedy "Sooser" bit was legendary, and at least Menino did not mix up a Boston player with someone from a different city. Plus, he would probably know who Schilling is, especially given that the former Red Sox pitching great is such a vocal Republican. What do you think? Does Kennedy still take the cake for biggest Mass politician sports fail?
Boston mayor Thomas Menino was on hand at TD Garden on Monday for the unveiling of a statue honoring Boston Bruins great Bobby Orr. Menino was charged with delivering a series of prepared remarks to honor Orr on the 40th anniversary of the Bruins’ 1970 Stanley Cup Finals win. 
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