NHL

PALIN’S PUCK DROP SHAMEFUL

Ed Snider, CEO of the Flyers, is using his team, the Rangers and the NHL as stage props to advance his own political agenda, and it doesn’t appear the league can or is willing to do a thing about it.

Tomorrow night, when the Flyers play their home opener against the Rangers, Gov. Sarah Palin will drop the ceremonial first puck in what Snider’s team is positioning as an homage to hockey moms.

NHL OK WITH APPEARANCE

This is how the participation of the Republican Party’s nominee for vice president was portrayed in a press release late Wednesday afternoon. Odd that the release omitted reference to Snider’s public support of the John McCain-Palin ticket, isn’t it?

Snider was host for a Sept. 26 Palin campaign event at the Irish Pub in Center City in Philadelphia. According to records of the Federal Election Commission, Snider donated $50,000 to the Republican national campaign effort between June 24 and June 30, 2008.

Now he is donating the stage of an NHL pregame ceremony for use as a pep rally for McCain’s presidential effort. Now he is intent on transforming a sports arena into the political arena. He is creating an environment in which partisan politics, not hockey rooting interest, might well create dangerous disruption in the stands.

The NHL, which apparently had no idea of Snider’s power grab, has thus far been mute on the issue. Snider has backed Gary Bettman into a corner as if a latter day Don Saleski. This is behavior worthy of league sanctions.

What’s next, NBA Bobcats owner Bob Johnson, a public supporter of Barack Obama, inviting the Democratic nominee for president to participate in his team’s opening tipoff under an equally odious and flimsy guise of paying tribute to basketball-playing civil servants?

As if an NBA owner would ever attempt to slide something like that past David Stern.

When Palin drops the puck, there inevitably will be photos taken of the Ranger and Flyer participating in the ceremonial draw. When circulated throughout the Internet, these photos are likely to imply endorsement. If the Governor of Alaska is presented with a Flyers’ jersey — or appears wearing one — it will represent the implied endorsement of the NHL team.

Snider’s Comcast may own the Flyers, but he, like all NHL owners, are merely leasing their teams and their teams’ trademarks from the league. The Flyers logo and the Rangers logo are property of the NHL. Snider has no right to use these teams and these players as props to further his own political agenda.

The Flyers’ colors have historically been orange and black. The owner is now attempting to use this storied franchise in order to turn his home state red.

Shameful.