Botched

Iconic partnerships. How about Sonny and Cher? Or peanut butter and jelly? But ice hockey and Los Angeles? Not so much. 

Despite the assumed incongruence, I made my way to an LA Kings game last week, defying both traffic and the steamy Southern California temperatures. Not only did the home team get the win, but the contest became a vehicle for some pretty slick marketing. How, you ask, has ice hockey been glammed up for Hollywood consumption? Plastic surgery, that's how.

The story goes something like this. Bailey, the Kings mascot, had been placed on the team's "injured reserve list" earlier in the week. So when he appeared for his pre-game skate with bandages covering much of his head, it was announced he had undergone cosmetic surgery as part of a "makeover." Just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder, during the first intermission the celebrity doctors from the E! series "Botched" appeared at center ice to remove Bailey's dressings with perfunctory flair. 

Step aside Wayne Gretzky. Bailey is coming for you...

"Plastic surgery is like a big elephant sitting in Hollywood's living room." - Patricia Heaton