Boston is a sports-loving town. So, too, is its longtime mayor, Thomas Menino.
Except Menino — known both affectionately and disparagingly as "Mumbles Menino" — has a penchant for stumbling over his own words, a tic that seems to crop up every time he discusses his city's sports history.
While he's never quite gone full Coakley, the cumulative bulk of his malapropisms is nonetheless impressive.
Here, 5 times he botched his Boston sports knowledge:
World Series Cup
Menino will be stepping down when his fifth term ends this year, but he got in one last Menino-ism Tuesday. With the Red Sox slated to host the opening game of the World Series Wednesday, Menino urged Boston fans to behave responsibly while the team tries to win the "World Series Cup."
The World Series champion receives a trophy. However, if said team can then beat the reigning Stanley Cup champs in a game of water polo then it can claim both awards, which are fused into the Megatron of trophies: The World Series Cup.
KJ and Hondo
The Celtics were perennial title contenders over the past half decade thanks to a core that included forward Kevin Garnett and guard Rajon Rondo. Menino, in explaining why the team was destined for a title in 2012, bungled their nicknames as "KJ" and "Hondo."
Hondo was the nickname of former Celtic great John Havlicek who retired in 1978. KJ, Kevin Johnson, played for the Phoenix Suns and is now the mayor of Sacramento.
At least Menino played it off well.
Varitek
The Patriots won their first Super Bowl in 2001 on a last-second field goal from kicker Adam Vinatieri. Reminiscing about Boston's sports history — while unveiling a statue of its most iconic hockey star, no less — Menino waxed poetic about "Varitek splitting the uprights."
Jason Varitek was the Red Sox captain and catcher for their two most recent World Series titles. He has never been to the Super Bowl.
Gonk, Wilcock, Weckler
Three players who are, or were, on the Patriots: Rob Gronkowksi, Wes Welker, and Vince Wilfork.
Three players Menino thinks are, or were, on the Patriots: Rob Grobowski, Wes Weckler, and Vince Wilcock.
Menino screwed up Wilfork's name while wearing a Wilfork jersey. In the same interview, he also had trouble with Gronkowski's nickname (Gronk), changing it to the best fake onomatopoeia ever, "Gonk."
Donald Sterns
David Stern is basketball's infamous WWE villain of a commissioner. Menino almost got his name right in 2010, tweaking it slightly to "Donald Sterns." While Stern is not a Boston sports alum himself, Celtics fans and conspiracy theorists remember him well as the man who allegedly rigged the 1997 NBA draft to screw Boston out of a chance to land Tim Duncan.
Donald Sterns, meanwhile, is the unholy theoretical marriage of Donald Trump and failed financial titan Bear Stearns, a villain equally as devious as David Stern who, thankfully, never existed.
