I woke up this morning and was reminded of the stunning Red Sox victory over the hated Yankees (although as a Pirates fan I always root for the NL, I also root for anyone but the Yankees). My first thoughts were: “How long before this is part of the Kerry campaign?” According to a conversation I had with Matt Yglesias, all the DC insiders think this is a sure sign that Kerry is going to win, so apparently we will hear this a great deal in the next few weeks.
In a related vein, all of the cable news coverage of the celebrating fans really drives home how accurate the Jimmy Fallon skit spoofing Boston really was- and it is frightening. I always thought the skit wass hysterical, now I have a new found appreciation.
Finally, as far as sports and prediction goes, there is this piece of information that is always interesting:
FOOTBALL + ELECTION
Did you know….??
The Washington Redskins have proved to be a time-tested election predictor. In the previous 15 elections, if the Washington Redskins have lost their last home game prior to the election, the incumbent party has lost the White House. When they have won, the incumbent has stayed in power.
According to Snopes, this has been accurate for every election since 1936. This year the matchup is Green Bay (2-4) vs the hometeam Redskins (2-4) at 1 pm, 31 October.
Go Skins! Does this mean Oliver will be rooting for the pack?
Oliver
Hell no.
camber
There are acouple other “predictors”. This is from an article back in 2000.
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blpredict.htm
Polls are fairly useless when it comes to predicting who will win presidential elections. For accurate fortune-telling, we need only look to the Washington Redskins, Halloween mask sales, the stock market and other time-tested indicators.
The Washington Redskins
In the previous 15 elections, if the Washington Redskins have lost their last home game prior to the election, the incumbent party has lost the White House. When they have won, the incumbent has stayed in power. This year, the Redskins lost that game to the Tennessee Titans, 27-21.
Winner: Bush
The Dow Jones
A bad year for the Dow generally spells doom for the incumbent party. During years in which the Dow has fallen by 10 percent or more, the incumbent party has been bounced from the White House. This year, the Dow is off just slightly from January.
Winner: Gore
The Kids’ Vote
The Weekly Reader has conducted a poll of kids aged 9 and up that has proven right in the last 11 elections. This year kids picked Bush by a 66 to 33 percent margin.
Winner: Bush
Halloween Masks
Costume sellers have said that the winner of every presidential election for nearly three decades has been foretold by sales figures for rubber masks of the candidates. In other words, the bigger freak usually wins.
This year, BuyCostumes.com reported that Bush masks led sales. However, other sellers said Gore narrowly edged out Bush. Of course, the overall political bestseller continues to be Richard Nixon, so by that measure, he should have won every election since 1968.
Winner: Nixon
Ralph Gizzip
Of course Oliver’s gonna be rooting for a pack. A pack of Ho Ho’s, Ding Dongs, or Twinkies.
John
You’re forgetting the laws of Karma.
Boston gets one winner, else the world would tilt out of balance and armaggedon would be on our doorsteps.
I think it self-evident that Boston would choose a Sox vistory over a JFK victory. So there.
Of course, both winning actually would mean armaggedon.
Imagine… we might be watching the last World Series ever!
Matthew
Boston gets one winner, else the world would tilt out of balance and armaggedon would be on our doorsteps.
They had the Pats win the Superbowl this year..
I bet if Kerry shows up at a game he will get more boos then cheers even in Boston. The fans know he’s a fake. He has been quoted as saying he was a big fan of “Manny Ortez”.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1842904
M. Scott Eiland
[Scene: The Red Sox locker room after they have beaten the Cardinals in the World Series]
[phone rings]
Clubhouse Attendant: (answering the phone and listening, then yells) “Hey, is there an Eddie Yost here? John Kerry wants to congratulate him!”
Brian J.
I’ll root for the Packers regardless.
Stupid historical precedents are meant to be broken.
Justin Ogren
Who’d Bush congratulate? Eddie Money