Peter Gammons of ESPN and formerly of the Boston Globe (and a UNC journalism grad) offered this insight on John Kerry’s history of sports fandom:
So who puts the bug in candidates’ ears about seeming what they are not? John Kerry last week professed to be a big fan of “Manny Ortez,” then re-emphasized the phoofery by correcting it to “David Ortez.” No, that was Dave (Baby) Cortez and “The Happy Organ.” A few years back Kerry went on a Boston station with Eddie Andelman and said “my favorite Red Sox player of all time is The Walking Man, Eddie Yost,” who never played for the Red Sox. Kerry is going to sweep New England. He’s going to get 70 percent of the vote in Massachusetts. He doesn’t have to be a Red Sox fan, all he has to do is not be John Ashcroft.
Gammon’s Chapel Hill roots apparently still run deep. For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, there is no Manny Ortez or David Ortez, but Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz DO exist.
