Boston is a rabid sports town. The fans obsess about the local teams and are currently enthralled with the Boston Bruins playoff collapse, the Celtics success versus the Cavaliers and the struggling Red Sox. On Monday, the Bruins unveiled a statue of Bobby Orr commemorating his Stanley Cup winning goal in 1970.
Boston’s five term mayor Thomas Menino spoke at the unveiling about Boston sports teams and embarassed himself with two major gaffes. You can see video clip below.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqzY1IjcGhc[/youtube]
Did you catch the two gaffes? The first is that he said “ionic” instead of “iconic.” This is an odd mistake especially since he is reading a prepared statement. The far more egregious error is when he said “Varitek splitting the uprights.” The term “splitting the uprights” means a football field goal and he was referring to Adam Vintieri kicking a Superbowl winning field goal against the St. Louis Rams in 2002. Yet, instead of Vintieri, he referenced Jason Varitek who is the Red Sox’s catcher and has nothing to with football whatsoever!
The first gaffe is less signficant and could happen to anyone although I would expect more from an experienced public speaker like Menino. The second is crazy! Any reasonable Boston sports fan would know that Varitek does not play football. I just do not get it. Is he so out of touch with his constituency that he does not understand the local sports scene?
Whether due to pure oversight or indifference, Menino looked like an idiot. I have no idea what he (or his speech writers) were thinking and am thankful that I no longer live in downtown Boston!
Too funny.
He was on such a roll, I half epected him to recount the great Magic John/Larry Bird battles too!
Is he term-limited or no longer running for public office?
John, thank you for your comment. He was on such a role that he forgot that the Red Sox and Patriots were different teams!
On your other question, there are no term limits and I expect him to keep running.