Palin to drop puck at Flyers game

This might not be a good idea for Palin(especially given the Philadelphia sports fans' reputation)...

If anyone is wondering how it went, well I don't think that it's a surprise that Palin got booed...

The Boo Birds

So, how did Philadelphia Flyers fans greet Sarah Palin, who was on hand tonight for the ceremonial puck-drop?

Watching on Comcast, it seemed like there was an avalanche of boos when she walked out -- boos that were almost immediately drowned out by blaring, bombastic music.

There is no doubt in my mind that that the music was ordered up to help tamp down what could have been an even more embarrassing moment.

The weirdest part of it was that Palin, who had to know she was going to be booed, walked out with her cutie pie 7-year-old daughter, Piper.

Why do I have a feeling that poor Piper will be discussing being booed by thousands with a therapist in about 10 years?

http://www.delawareonline.com/blogs/2008/10/boo-birds.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TgDanmWkg (video of this on Youtube "Hockey mom Sarah Palin boo'd at hockey game")

A Misplaced Hockey Mom Moment

By Lynn Zinser

Let me start this off by saying, I would object to this sideshow whichever political party it involved. Having vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin drop the ceremonial first puck at the Flyers’ opener Saturday night was problematic not because it was Palin — Flyers owner Ed Snider’s decision under the flimsy excuse of “honoring” hockey moms — but because it is injecting politics in a place it should not be.

The biggest problem: when Palin came out onto the Wachovia Center ice Saturday night — greeted by resounding (almost deafening) boos from the Flyers crowd — 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 is brought up. I think both would rather play goalie in a shootout than weigh in on the presidential election.

But Gomez was stuck. He took the ceremonial puck drop because he is from Alaska and he is an alternate captain. Captain Chris Drury was quite likely relieved to be taken off that hook. The Flyers’ Mike Richards was the other uncomfortable party in that center ice get-together. It was not the first or last time Richards will hear Flyers fans howling their disapproval, but this was for nothing he did.

Yet another verdict on this...

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/a-misplaced-hockey-mom-moment/?scp=1&sq=palin%20booed%20at%20flyers%20game&st=cse

No ringing endorsement for Palin

PHILADELPHIA -- As vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin strode out on the red carpet with daughters Willow and Piper, she waved to sold-out crowd at the Wachovia Center, where the Flyers were opening their season against the Rangers.

Most of the building, however, didn't exactly wave back. Although there were a number of fans that stood and cheered the Alaska governor and self-proclaimed hockey mom, invited as part of the Flyers' marketing campaign to find the region's Ultimate Hockey Mom, there were also signs that her presence was not welcome -- one read: I can see Russia from this seat.

Still, she went out there smiling, shook the hands of Flyers captain Mike Richards and Rangers assistant captain Scott Gomez (he's from Alaska), and together with the winner of the contest, dropped the puck in the ceremonial opening face-off.

According to a source in the Palin campaign, the vice-presidential candidate received a Flyers jersey, one that sported her name and the No. 1 on the back. She was even expected to wear it during the puck-dropping ceremony but apparently decided against it. Perhaps she realized she would be appearing before nearly 20,000 fans from Philadelphia, the fans who almost boastfully declare that they once booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus.

Shortly after it was announced that Palin would drop the puck in the season opener, the move became widely criticized as a political ploy. Flyers owner Ed Snider is a well-known conservative who has contributed thousands of dollars to the Republican Party and the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket, and some believe the invitation was politically motivated. The Flyers insist, however, it was maternally motivated.

The Flyers' contest spawned from Palin's famous declaration in her speech at the Republican National Convention: "The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."

Overnight, the vice-presidential candidate became the poster lady for hockey moms, those women that are so fiercely devoted to their children's sport that they wake up before dawn to drive their kids to the rink every morning and clean their dirty (and smelly) equipment. Yet hockey moms are, as Palin suggests, emotional and passionate.

"I was the type of hockey mom that was banging on the penalty box glass, screaming, 'Be nice!' until my son said, 'Mom, you are embarrassing me,'" Palin said in an on-air interview with Comcast Sports Net, the only interview she granted to the media. "Then I learned to be the more of the team mom."

The sentiment behind the contest and ceremony, no matter the politics, was right. Hockey moms do deserve credit for their sacrifice and devotion to the sport. "Being an ultimate hockey mom means being there for your team, doing everything you can to help," says Cindi Furman, a self-proclaimed hockey mom from southern New Jersey. "Hockey is a family-type sport, and it's about going the extra mile."

Doreen Ross, a hockey mom to three, has gone that extra mile -- through the snow. "I've driven so early that my tire tracks were the first ones all the way from my house to the rink," she says outside the Wachovia Center before the game. She and her husband, Doug, have driven all throughout Pennsylvania to watch their two sons and daughter play. And he recalls his favorite hockey mom story, when somebody took a cheap shot on their son during a game. "She was right there up against the glass screaming at him," he says. She laughs, a little embarrassedly. "I think that was more mother bear than pit bull," she says.

The Rosses were just a couple of the Barack Obama supporters in attendance. They joke that between them, Doreen, a hockey mom ("But I don't wear lipstick," she says), and Doug, a mayor in a small town in Pennsylvania, share just about the same credentials as Palin, who served as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, before becoming governor.

Incidentally, the boos that greeted Palin when she took the ice were really just the beginning. After allowing four goals in the opening 16 minutes of the game, the Flyers drew the boo-birds of Philadelphia out in droves. For the next two periods, though, the Flyers chipped away at New York's lead as Scott Hartnell, Simon Gagne and Richards each scored goals for Philadelphia. The comeback brought the crowd back to life, but the Flyers just didn't have quite enough to pull it off.

In the end, though, Palin could take solace in the fact there was at least one person who might've been booed louder than she was: Ranger Nikolai Zherdev, who was named the first star of the game.

Yet another take on this...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/sarah_kwak/10/11/rangers.flyers/