Hold on to your toupees and bowties, folks, because I have a shocking revelation for you – a politician made a stupid mistake when he tried to invoke sports in a campaign ad. I know, I couldn’t believe it either, and I even checked to make sure that this wasn’t an April Fool’s prank, but it happened last week, so that would make it the most efficient and diabolical prank of 2014 thus far. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell’s team had to pull a campaign ad after they realized that somewhere in the montage of Americans doing American things for the sake of America, because America and America, they celebrated Duke’s 2010 NCAA Championship instead of Kentucky’s 2012 championship or Louisville’s 2013 title.
While the error might seem inconsequential to the non-sports fan, it’s important to point out that Kentucky treats basketball like Texas treats football, and with the Kentucky Wildcats currently in the middle of a somewhat improbable Final Four run, accidentally celebrating Duke is the kind of thing that can get even the most incumbent lifetime politician booted from office.
“The ad was intended to highlight Kentucky’s basketball dominance and obviously the Web ad vendor has become so accustomed to watching national championship celebrations in the bluegrass state that they made a mistake with one of the images,” McConnell spokesman Allison Moore, a Kentucky graduate, said. “Obviously we were horrified by the error and quickly changed it.” (Via the Wisconsin Gazette)
*polishes monocle, spits tabacky juice* “Yesssss, obviously such a lowly peon, with his degree from a school lacking in fine basketball tradition would make a classless mistake, and we were quick to expel him to Louisiana to live with the illiterate football-loving mouth-breathers.”
Obviously, McConnell’s opponent, Dem. Alison Lundergan Grimes, was quick to jump all over this gaffe and use it to her advantage, as she joked that McConnell has “been in Washington so long that he doesn’t know the difference between Duke and UK.” Hahahahahahahahaha, f*cking sick burn, Grimey! Except:
Of course, Grimes had already miffed fans by picking Wichita State to beat Kentucky in her tournament bracket. Kentucky won that game 78-76. And she picked Louisville, the state’s other top program, to lose to Florida in the championship game.
Yet again I remind our nation’s politicians to stick to what they know best – sucking at everything and not doing their jobs – and keep their politics out of our sports.
