Sarah Palin Booed at Philadelphia Flyers Opener

The backlash over Sarah Palin has already reached infamous and high levels in many circles. Mockery and scorn follow Palin on late night shows and among some pundits, and her campaign for Vice President has seemed like one big routine meant for Tina Fey to recreate. Worse yet, the recent "Troopergate" probe in her own home state of Alaska has put Palin's judgment as a governor in jeopardy, with accusations of abuse of power.

So with that in mind, it probably wasn't the best call for Palin to make a public appearance among Philadelphia sports fans, who boo people for little to no reason as it is.

Palin was planning to reinforce her self-proclaimed "hockey mom" image by dropping the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers opening game against the New York Rangers on Saturday night. There, Palin would be joined by a Flyers fans who won a "hockey mom" contest to drop the puck with her, as they were also joined by Willow and Bristol Palin. It was an act of publicity in a swing state that Palin and John McCain need to make headway in.

But the Philadelphia fans were in no mood for Palin, as they greeted her with a loud string of boos once she came out onto the rink. In fact, once the boos started, the music over the PA system had to be turned up extremely loud to drown out the boos. When watching the game on television, the music could clearly be heard drowning out any sounds that the crowd was making, until Palin left the rink.

Though there was some applause for Palin, the Philadelphia fans did what they often do best and overshadowed it with the booing. Even the Wachovia Center scoreboard had to put up a message beforehand, saying "Flyers fans, show Philadelphia's class and welcome America's No. 1 hockey mom, Sarah Palin."

Even though Palin wasn't booed as much as actual sports figures are in Philadelphia, her less than enthusiastic reception reinforced two stereotypes. One is Palin's growing unpopularity, as she now faces legal trouble for the "Troopergate" issue and the McCain/Palin ticket declines as well.

The other is the notorious mockery of Philadelphia fans, who continue to put anyone in their cross hairs on a short leash. Here, they found time to boo someone even as the Philadelphia Phillies are six wins away from giving Philadelphia its first major sports championship in 25 years.

The Flyers themselves fared only marginally better than Palin, losing 4-3 to the Rangers after giving up the first four goals. The video of Palin getting booed quickly made it onto the Internet and Youtube.

Sources

LA Times- The Fabulous Forum: "Sarah Palin booed in Philadelphia before Flyers-Rangers game" latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2008/10/sarah-palin-boo.html

SI.com- "Sarah Palin gets the Philly treatment before Flyers-Rangers game" sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/sarah_kwak/10/11/rangers.flyers/