Monday, October 11, 2004
Sports and the political nexus
The National League match-up remains in doubt. The Cardinals advanced last night, once again behind their powerful batting order. The Braves, however, trailing the Astros 5-2 in the sixth, rallied to tie and then won in the 9th, John Smoltz inducing Jeff Kent into a game ending double play with the tying run at third.
What do Bush and Kerry think of all this? Sports figure into politics from time to time, usually when a team they are associated with does well. I picture Bill Clinton watching the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Final Four back in the early 90's, and Rudy in his Yankees cap at World Series after World Series. Then you have the wafflers who don't want to alienate anybody. I remember, back in the late 80s, the Governor of Kentucky wearing a hat that was half Kentucky Wildcat blue and half Louisville Cardinal red, and you see that kind of thing all the time.
And then there are the pretenders. I got a sneering email from Hedge Fund Guy, a regular reader, spoofing the presidential debate. A small excerpt:
In another exchange, the Senator responded that the President was not living in
reality, which he said it was okay if you are a Red Sox fan.
He would have added:
"You know I'm a die-hard Boston fan because I'm a regular guy who likes sports just like all the poor people in this room. I even have a favorite player on this year's team, Manny Ortez.
I can remember seeing one of my first Sox road games at Camden Yards in 1958. When Eddie Yost hit a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth off the
factory wall out there in right, I couldn't have been happier. Mind you, it's
very unusual for visiting teams to bat in the bottom of the inning, but that's
how I remember it.
While we're on the subject of sports, let me take a minute to talk to Wisconsin voters. No one was sadder than me to see Vince Lombardi leave the Packers in order to open a lucrative rest stop on the NJ Turnpike. Honestly, I think that's how this whole money-grabbing thing in sports got started. If I weren't in Cambodia at the time, I'd have convened a summit to reconsider the importation of subsidized sports figures from Canada. I would have sent Lombardi to the Canadian Football League, and when the Canadian government subsidized his pay, I would have imported him back at low, subsidized rates, to coach again at Curly Howard Field.
Now, look at the President's failed policies. Sure he can throw a fastball for a strike at the World Series with half the world watching; and yes I bounced a changeup from
40-feet away in Boston, but he uses that as a distraction from the real issue.
He refuses to admit he made a mistake when he was Managing Partner of the Texas
Rangers. He sent Sammy Spinoza to the White Sox instead of the Blue Jays where
Sammy's pay could have been subsidized by the Canadian government. How do you
ask someone to be the last fan to cry for a mistake?"
Of course, among other things, he's playing off the facts that Kerry is a pretender when it comes to being a sports fan, and has made some terrible errors. He talks up baseball in an attempt to connect with the common man, but he's clueless and gets his facts wrong. If you are not really a Red Sox fan, don't embarrass yourself and insult real fans by trying to fake it. In my office even the Kerry voters heap him with scorn over these lame efforts. Can you imagine sitting through a game with John Kerry? Meanwhile, does anyone doubt that George Bush is a real sports fan? Forget the war for a second. Who would you rather have to your Super Bowl party?
0 Comments:
