Ain't No Cryin' In Baseball
Dean, Kerry trade barbs on baseball
By KEN MAGUIRE The Associated Press
BOSTON — Presidential hopefuls John Kerry and Howard Dean have been playing hardball for months over who offers Democrats the best chance at unseating President Bush.
But now things are getting serious.
Kerry’s camp, reacting to news that Dean will hold a rally today in the senator’s hometown, brushed back the former Vermont governor by claiming he’s a New York Yankees fan. Those are fightin’ words, especially within four months of the crucial primary in New Hampshire, a key state in Red Sox Nation. Dean, who grew up in New York, says he dumped pinstripes for Red Sox three years ago.
“When you move to New England, you put your old loyalties behind you,” said Dean campaign co-chairman Steve Grossman, a Massachusetts businessman. “You’ve got to have a sense of humor about this.”
The “flap” began when Kerry’s campaign said Dean’s Red Sox switch was just the latest in his quest for the presidency.
“Of all the flip-flops, this is the most inexplicable and indefensible,” Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander said Monday. “It’s like switching from the Redskins to the Cowboys or from Carolina to Duke.”
Dean told the Boston Herald that the Yankees accusation was the “biggest insult” hurled at him so far. He says Roger Clemens’ beaning of Mets catcher Mike Piazza in 2000 was the final straw.
Even Dean’s “bloggers” — supporters who post Web logs on the Internet — are having fun with the controversy.
One blogger described himself as a depressed Yankees fan: “Whoever kidnapped Governor Dean and replaced him with a Nomah-loving impostor, please return him safely, and we promise not to taunt you too badly (save some 1918 chants) when the Yankees win the Series again.”
The Red Sox last won the World Series, of course, in 1918. A year later, they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. As the Yankees have gone on to win 26 World Series titles, some Red Sox fans have come to believe they’re team has been undermined by the “Curse of the Bambino.”
NOTE: One question: what blogs are these? Nice of them to name their source! If anyone knows, I'll add links. And hey, I'm from the West Coast, this must be like a Giants v. Dodgers thing, right?
By KEN MAGUIRE The Associated Press
BOSTON — Presidential hopefuls John Kerry and Howard Dean have been playing hardball for months over who offers Democrats the best chance at unseating President Bush.
But now things are getting serious.
Kerry’s camp, reacting to news that Dean will hold a rally today in the senator’s hometown, brushed back the former Vermont governor by claiming he’s a New York Yankees fan. Those are fightin’ words, especially within four months of the crucial primary in New Hampshire, a key state in Red Sox Nation. Dean, who grew up in New York, says he dumped pinstripes for Red Sox three years ago.
“When you move to New England, you put your old loyalties behind you,” said Dean campaign co-chairman Steve Grossman, a Massachusetts businessman. “You’ve got to have a sense of humor about this.”
The “flap” began when Kerry’s campaign said Dean’s Red Sox switch was just the latest in his quest for the presidency.
“Of all the flip-flops, this is the most inexplicable and indefensible,” Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander said Monday. “It’s like switching from the Redskins to the Cowboys or from Carolina to Duke.”
Dean told the Boston Herald that the Yankees accusation was the “biggest insult” hurled at him so far. He says Roger Clemens’ beaning of Mets catcher Mike Piazza in 2000 was the final straw.
Even Dean’s “bloggers” — supporters who post Web logs on the Internet — are having fun with the controversy.
One blogger described himself as a depressed Yankees fan: “Whoever kidnapped Governor Dean and replaced him with a Nomah-loving impostor, please return him safely, and we promise not to taunt you too badly (save some 1918 chants) when the Yankees win the Series again.”
The Red Sox last won the World Series, of course, in 1918. A year later, they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. As the Yankees have gone on to win 26 World Series titles, some Red Sox fans have come to believe they’re team has been undermined by the “Curse of the Bambino.”
NOTE: One question: what blogs are these? Nice of them to name their source! If anyone knows, I'll add links. And hey, I'm from the West Coast, this must be like a Giants v. Dodgers thing, right?
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