Sarah Never Read Tip

Apparently Sarah Palin has never studied the lessons of the legendary Tip O'Neill. This is not a surprise given Palin's complete lack of intellectual curiousity, but it is nonetheless unfortunate given her foolish decision to drop the puck in the first game of the season for the Philadelphia Flyers on their home ice.

In his fun little book, "All Politics Is Local," O'Neill told a story of how he was lustily booed when he was introduced at a boxing match, causing him great embarrassment. The incident taught O'Neill, a brilliant political glad-handler in his own right, that politics and sports do not mix, and that leaders should not try to politick at sporting events. There are various reasons for this, he argued, but most all, people go to sporting events to escape things like politics and politicians, and being forced to see or hear from them at a baseball stadium, boxing match, or hockey rink is bound to raise the fans' ire.

I saw this dynamic play out in person when I attended the Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park on Sunday, August 22, 2004, a night game which my Yankees were pasted thanks to the always-awful Jose Contreras. This was the week of the Democratic convention in Boston, and John Kerry was in the house, seated in the front row along the first base line. About to nominated to be President in the center of his town, itself one of America's most-lasting Democratic bastions, it seemed only natural that Kerry go to the big game (the Sox had won a big come-from-behind game the day before on a home run by third basemen Bill Muller over Mariano Rivera) and be treated to a hero's welcome by the crowd. Not so. Kerry was badly booed by the Fenway faithway. To be perfectly honest, even I booed the Senator, even though I too was in town for the convention. I agreed with the fans that I was not at the game for politics. Even in Boston, Kerry had no comprehension for the reception he would get. This is no surprise, given that John Kerry had probably not set foot in a sporting for a decade (after all, the prospect of mingling with the commoners is something that Kerry and Theresa likely do not enjoy).

Sarah Palin has either not learned these lessons, or she simply does not care. It's probably the former. I have no doubt that she wants to go Philly and play her beloved role of hockey mom in order to score some political points in the vital Keystone State. She and the campaign probably hope that her appearance can peel off some voters in the key Philly suburbs where McCain has to win in order to offset the margins in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. On its face, this makes sense as a hockey game is filled with a lot of suburbites, plenty of blue collars, and to be perfectly blunt, not many minority voters (for those of you who have been to hockey games, I challenge you to dispute this latter contention).

Nevertheless, it is a bad idea, and not just because of Tip's lesson. I am a big hockey fan. I go to a lot of New Jersey Devils games. In turn, I know all about the Flyers and their fans. Naturally, the Devils have a long-time rivalry with the Flyers (though, to be fair, it is not much of a rivalry with the Devs seemingly always knocking the Flyers out of big games or the in playoffs). Speaking from experience as a Devils and New York Giants fan, I can say with certainty that Philly fans are the nastiest, cruelest fans in the country. They are more profane and mean-spirited than the fans in any other city, bar none. These are the fans who booed Mike Schmidt and Santa Claus, and they wildly cheered when former Cowboys wide receiver was taken off the football field in an ambulence following a very serious injury. I am very tempted to use more colorful language to describe Eagle and Flyer fans, but I don't want to end up on 5,000 adult e-mail lists.

Needless to say that these are the exact type of fans who would give Sarah Palin, or any politician, a frosty reception. Knowing Philly fans, I do not envision them cheering Gov. Palin tonight. I have no idea why Palin would have agreed to do this, accept that she is simply not very astute.

So, for once I will enjoy the Philly fans' boorishness tonight.