Philadelphia Freedom

As anyone who knows me is well aware of, the Philadelphia Flyers kicked off their season yesterday with a fizzle. They lost to the Rags 4-3, and looked horrible in the first period. This was the biggest disappointment I could think of with how much I'd been looking forward to hockey these past couple months, but I am happy about one event last night.

As part of the opening night festivities, Flyers' owner and big-time Republican Ed Snider invited Alaskan governor and GOP vice president candidate Sarah Palin to drop the puck as the most famous hockey-mom in the United States. Cheap political stunt as this was, it thankfully backfired as Snider evidently didn't realize that the city his team played for was a staunch Democrat stronghold and that its fans were know for their vocal tendencies.

As soon as voice of the Flyers Lou Nolan announced her name, the boos began to cascade down. The Flyers' faithful were so loud as to necessitate an increase in the music's volume to drown them out.

This one part of the evening was nearly enough to make up for the utterly disgusting play exhibited by the Flyers during a first period that saw them give up 4 goals to the hated Rangers. Over the next two periods, the Flyers tried to climb back and eventually scored 3 times to make it close at the end. It was all for naught, though, as the Rangers managed to hold on for the win.