Tailgating: LA Kings use awful media coverage to their advantage, remind us not take ourselves so seriously

By Wade Neely | May 23, 2012 |

In the world of sports and sports media, it can be easy to forget a simple fact about the industry:

This is supposed to be fun.

That’s why it was extremely refreshing to read a pair of lighthearted stories from a major sports franchise earlier this week.

Smack dab in the midst of one of the most historic seasons in franchise history, the Los Angeles Kings have struggled to receive professional coverage from some of their local media.

In addition to being referred to as the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, the LA Kings have also had to deal with their fair share of mispronunciations and made-up players.

(Because, if you can’t pronounce a guy’s name properly, just make something up and hope it sticks, right?)

Heck, they even had a newscaster refer to their sport’s scoring object as a ball instead of a puck.

Pretty rough treatment for a team that clinched its second-ever trip to the Stanley Cup Finals Tuesday night.

Despite all this, the Kings have not only kept their cool, they have actually turned the poor coverage into an awesome new PR campaign.

On Monday, the club’s digital media department released a hilarious infographic that very tongue-in-cheekly cleared the air about the poor local coverage.

I’d attempt to describe the graphic, but you’d be better off looking at for yourself HERE.

And while the infographic is very well done, it might not even be the best PR move the Kings made last week.

Last Wednesday, actor Rainn Wilson (known to many as Dwight Schrute on “The Office”) tweeted the Kings and asked the club for a pair of tickets to his first-ever hockey game.

Later that evening, the Kings social media team (which is regarded as one of the best in all of pro sports), tweeted back a funny exchange with Wilson:

Not surprisingly, Wilson took the Kings up on their offer and dug his tickets out of the green jello to attend Game 4:

(For those who have been living under a rock for the last seven years: The jello comment was a reference to this legendary scene from the pilot of “The Office.”)

Within seconds, Wilson’s tweet had not only brought more outstanding positive PR to the Kings, it also brought us a pair of refreshing life lessons:

Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. Sports are supposed to be fun.

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