Just from the worlds of baseball, basketball, football and hockey there are nearly 4,000 active professional athletes in the United States. As a result, you're bound to get some repeat names. And that can sometimes lead to some unintentional comedy in the fast-paced world of online sports media. Take, for instance, this story ESPNNewYork.com published on the Boston Bruins trading (white) goaltender Tim Thomas to the New York Islanders, along with an image of (black) former NBA player Tim Thomas.
Hey, at least they both have facial hair. But the resemblance pretty much stops there.
These things happen. I remember back when I worked at theScore.com we once used a picture of (white) Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane as the lead image on our NHL page. The problem was that the story was on (black) Thrashers forward Evander Kane. Because we're all immature, we had a hearty laugh, just as we're doing now.
And just as we'll do on every occasion in which this happens from now until the end of time.
(Hat tip: @TomUrtzNYR via @FlyersNation)