Front Page L.A. Times – George Parros!

The front page of the Los Angeles Times is where one expects to read about Chilean miners, President Obama’s trip to China, important science breakthroughs involving harnessing antimatter and other significant and meaningful subjects.  The last story one would expect would involve hockey (unless it was the Stanley Cup Final) – least of all George Parros.

I’ll type that again for those of you who are doing double takes.

"George Parros was on the front page of the Los Angeles Times on Black Friday 2010."

Not the Kings Dustin Brown, not Anze Kopitar, not even Jonathan Quick, but one of the most detested Ducks to have ever defiled the ice of Staples Center.

At this time I would like to invite all my fellow fans of the waterfowl to join me in a collective “NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH!!!” directed toward all the Kings fans who are reading this with smoke issuing from their ears.

Whenever the Ducks play the Kings at Staples, Bailey goes to great lengths in order to mock anyone wearing an Anaheim sweater.  Multiple “Duck Hunters” patrol the arena clad in camo with strangulated Wildwings slung over their shoulders.  And during the draft, as soon as the Anaheim pick was announced, the entire place erupted in ear-shattering boos.

With that in mind, imagine this scenario.  A quiet morning, birds chirping, the only sound in the house is the rustle as my boyfriend (an avid Kings fan) and I read the newspaper.  Then, quite suddenly, the peace is broken by a sound of disgust from my man and the front section of the paper being hurled across the room.

I give him a confused look and ask what’s wrong.

“Just look,” he huffs, beginning to get all pouty.

I retrieve the mangled section which now resembles a large bird that’s been hit by a semi and once my momentary shock wears off, I just can’t stop laughing.

If you allow them to, Kings fans will wax histrionic about how much they hate the Ducks and how much they suck until the end of time.  So why, oh why, would the city’s major newspaper sully their front page with an enemy?

The Times’ sports Column One feature writer, David Wharton, was kind enough to provide his insight: “As the season began, I was searching around for a hockey story and our great NHL writer, Helene Elliott, told me about Parros and Kevin Westgarth going out for dinner the night after their preseason fight, which piqued my curiosity. The A-1 editors liked the idea of a story that got inside the head of an enforcer. I interviewed both players — both are great guys — and it turned out Parros was the better fit for this particular article.”

My Ducks may be struggling in the weeds right now, but it’s little victories like this that make being a fan all the sweeter…that and the fact that our third jerseys are actually pretty cool!