Political Fight Over the Palin Puck Drop

Thanks to just one ceremonial puck drop with Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the National Hockey League has turned into a political football -- and a lot of the folks are working very hard trying to influence what and how you think about it.

In the last 24 hours, I've seen a pair of interesting instances of how the events of Saturday night are being reported that are worth noting. Details follow after the jump.

By now, most of you have probably seen this clip of Palin coming to center ice on Saturday night:

Now, watch this version of the same event, but listen for the subtle audio difference the folks at NHL.com came up with:

Did you happen to catch that? It should be pretty easy to tell that there isn't any crowd noise in the NHL.com clip. It's an easy trick, all they had to do was take the audio feed from the arena that includes the music and the PA announcer and lay it under the video. Voila, pesky crowd noise eliminated!

As you can imagine, plenty of people were all over the puck drop, including Lynn Zinser of the New York Times and their Slap Shot blog. Immediately after the ceremony, Zinser posted the following:

The biggest problem: when Palin came out to onto the Wachovia Center ice Saturday night - greeted by resounding (almost deafening) boos from the Flyers crowd - the the two hockey players who had no choice but to appear with her in that photo op were turned into props in a political campaign. If Rangers center Scott Gomez or Flyers center Mike Richards wanted to make some sort of political statement, that would be fine, but in this case, they were thrust into a situation not of their choosing. Snider put them there with his ill-advised mixing of politics and sports.

The level of discomfort has been palpable for the Rangers' two Alaska natives, Gomez and Brandon Dubinsky, as they have been asked questions about Palin and the election in recent weeks. Dubinsky, a 22-year-old who has shied away from nothing since he broke in with the Rangers last year, looks petrified when the topic gets brought up. I think both would rather play goalie in a shootout than weigh in on the presidential election.

Her post was more or less picked up immediately by both Editor and Publisher and The Huffington Post, who passed along the details. But if you pop over to that post now at Slap Shot now, this is what you'll find:

When Sarah Palin dropped the ceremonial first puck at the Flyers' opener on Saturday night at the Wachovia Center, she was greeted by resounding (almost deafening) boos. Ed Snider, owner of the Flyers, had her introduced to the crowd more as a hockey mom than as the Republican candidate for vice president. She was flanked by Scott Gomez, the Rangers center, and Mike Richards, the Flyers center.

While Philadelphia fans are known for not being shy about voicing disapproval, the question has been raised - including by me in an earlier version of this post - whether the appearance was appropriate at a sports event like this.

Share your thoughts below.

Huh?

The dramatic switcheroo caught the attention of Terry Trippany over at Newsbusters, who has his own deconstruction of Zinser's post, including a detailed look back at statements by Gomez concerning his feelings about Palin -- ones that would suggest he might not have been uncomfortable with last night's ceremony at all. For another view on the ceremony through a political lens, check out Gateway Pundit.

In the end, I'm just happy that we're less than a month away from the election. It just can't come soon enough.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-13-2008 @ 12:26AM

enrico said...

Ha. The videos from fans in the stands at the game show the boos being very loud.

http://www.the700level.com/2008/10/flyers-fans-rea.html

10-13-2008 @ 1:27AM

welch_19 said...

I'm glad we're worried about what the Huffington Post thinks about Sarah Palin. She dropped a puck. Get over it.

10-13-2008 @ 2:26AM

Wade said...

Second attempt at making a comment. What a joke of an "objective" post. I've commented on many articles, yet this is the first time I haven't had a comment show up.

I guess standing up for a republican is the recipe for being shut down.

10-13-2008 @ 3:04AM

forexthinker.com said...

Apparently, more Democrats than Republicans were at the game!

10-13-2008 @ 9:41AM

tom said...

Philladelphia fans haven't changed since the "Broad Street Bullies" They aught to realize the importance to hockey that Governor Palin brings to the game. That town is so archaic it dosen't even deserve a hockey team.Booooo to you (City of Brotherly Blight )

10-13-2008 @ 8:55AM

Tipcpup said...

Sorry, tom, Sarah Palin deserves to be booed (and likely would be) in just about any city in America. She's a joke of a candidate; all folksy style, no viable political substance. And in 3 weeks, she's going to lose... badly.

The Flyers ought to be ashamed, not for the booing, but for bringing her out on the ice in the first place. What did they expect? This is a contentious, emotional process for millions of Americans, and Palin is not someone you have lukewarm feelings about. You either love her or hate her, and people are going to be vocal about it either way. Add in the fact that PA is a blue-leaning battleground state, hit hard by the economic climate, and no one should be shocked that she received this kind of treatment.

But in 23 days, she'll go back to Alaska, and be relegated to nothing more than a Trivial Pursuit answer for 99% of us.