Los Angeles Kings Throw Twitter Jab at St. Louis Sports

Conducting a successful Twitter war is an art form in and of itself, and what the Los Angeles Kings initiated towards the city of St. Louis and anybody associated with the Gateway to the West should be considered the preeminent example of how to tastefully talk smack.

The Kings were ahead of the Blues 2-0 last night when the official Twitter account of the Kings made the brilliant connection between that score and the announcement of the Chargers moving to Los Angeles.

What followed was a hilarious back-and-forth between Cardinal Report and the Kings trying to one-up each other, and eventually the Twitter community had their fun with the whole situation.

I always think of St. Louis as this gigantic metropolis, but it’s actually only the 60th largest U.S. city by population based on a 2015 Census estimate. Riverside, California amazingly has more people according to that same estimate than St. Louis.

I wouldn’t wish franchise relocation on any fan base. I’ve never had to endure it, and it must feel like a betrayal to a community that stands with the team through seasons good and bad.

However, much of the sentiment was about how bad the L.A. Rams are and that St. Louis wishes them good riddance.

It’s not as if losing is some permanent condition that never changes (at least for franchises not called the Cleveland Browns).

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St. Louis can say for now that the Rams got their only Super Bowl championship while they hosted them, but I’m not sure if St. Louis really wants to get in a battle about which sports town is more decorated.

The Los Angeles Lakers have 10 championships since 1980. The Los Angeles Dodgers have 2 championships in that same time frame.

St. Louis doesn’t have an NBA team, but the Cardinals have won 3 World Series since 1980. The Blues don’t have any Stanley Cups, while the Kings have 2 Cups.

It’s really not a competition if recent championships are compared between the two cities. However, there might be an opportunity for L.A. to empathize with the plight of losing a franchise.

Los Angeles lost two NFL teams in 1995, and went more than two decades without a football squad. St. Louis now has the unfortunate distinction of being discarded by the NFL twice.

The St. Louis Cardinals football team left town to relocate to Phoenix, and exist today as the Arizona Cardinals. It’s similar to Atlanta losing the NHL twice with the Flames moving to Calgary and the Thrashers morphing into the Winnipeg Jets.

Not many cities ever get a third chance with a league after failing to keep two different franchises from leaving them. In fact, Los Angeles with the NFL could be the first, although the simultaneous exodus of both the Rams and Raiders in 1995 really seems more like multiple cases rolled into one.

If historical precedence means anything, St. Louis is likely never to get another chance at making it work in the NFL. Considering they aren’t a big enough city to justify multiple teams in a league, it looks like St. Louis sports fans will have to make due with the Cardinals and Blues.

Because of the deal the NBA has with the owners of the defunct ABA team Spirits of St. Louis, I’m not sure what the logistics would be of the NBA putting a team in St. Louis, or if that’s even an avenue they’d wish to pursue.

Hilarious as the original tweet was, it almost seems beneath the city of Los Angeles to pick on a sports town like St. Louis.

Yes the Cardinals have had more success than the Dodgers in recent years, but it’s not as if L.A. is starved for championships.

Los Angeles has the luxury of being able to lean on any number of other teams when one of their many franchises goes through a cold stretch. St. Louis doesn’t really have that.

Next: Los Angeles Kings Dominate St. Louis Blues 5-1

Of course Los Angeles won the Twitter battle, but it wasn’t a fair fight to begin with. Much respect to St. Louis for the mark they’ve made in professional sports, but trading barbs with the Los Angeles sports scene isn’t advisable.