It's so not fun to rip a mascot. In fact, it's just painful at times. They're so much fun and bring so much joy with things like pies and stuff.

But hey Kings mascot Bailey ... your joke about Ducks players catching the mumps? Not cool.

Behold Bailey's outfit for today's #rivalryday match up between the Kings and Ducks, which the mascot bragged about on Twitter:

Oh and here's Bailey behind the Ducks bench:

@jehawks More

This has to be in reaction to the announcement that Anaheim forward Corey Perry and defenseman Francois Beauchemin's mystery illness was divulged as the mumps. Perry has been out since Nov. 2, and Beauchemin on Nov. 7. The Minnesota Wild have reportedly been dealing with the same problem.

There are times when as a society we may get too sensitive about topics. But as we pointed out a few days ago, hockey players getting infectious diseases is not one of them -- especially one where one of the side effects is sterility.

In fact, I'm sitting with a Vanderbilt pediatrician who saw Bailey's photo and simply said, "that's horrible."

Again, it seriously pains me to go after a mascot, but c'mon. Here's a list of endemics that hurt the lion population from lionalert.com. You don't see anyone making fun of Feline Herpesvirus. Where are you Wild Wing? We need you for a mascot throwdown...

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