Adding insult to injury

Tonight on the city's primary north-south traffic artery through Midtown, I saw a guy walking with a sandwich board sign. Initially I thought it was one of the many panhandlers who inhabit the major thoroughfares and quickly work the intersections in one direction and then the other as the signals change.

But this guy looked a little too energetic. As I approached I got the same grin a lot of other folks did, as this guy exchanged meaningful glances with drivers and shook his head sorrowfully at the message he bore in large letters front and back:

I FAILED TO
PICK THE

STANLEY CUP
WINNER AND
I SUCK

I was too far distant to ask him just how long he had to endure eight lanes of evening rush hour to fulfill his obligation. He was getting a lot of sympathy, though!