ATHENS OR SPARTA (OR BAYERN MUNICH)?

Dean, Kerry trade barbs on baseball (KEN MAGUIRE, September 22, 2003, The Associated Press)

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.”

In the dark places of their hearts, you just know they both prefer soccer anyway.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 23, 2003 11:30 AM