Bill de Blasio for Mayor!

Photo Credit: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio via Flickr

New York City public advocate and leading Democratic candidate for mayor Bill de Blasio has a scandalous confession—well, not scandalous on the scale set by some of his “Danger”ous competition … but troubling nonetheless. The New York Times reports:

He is a Red Sox fan, tried and true. He was raised in Cambridge, Mass., becoming a devotee of the Red Sox at 6, and he is unabashed in his disdain for anything having to do with that team from the Bronx.

“I have my loyalty to the team of my youth,” he said in an interview, calling his tie to the Red Sox a “deep devotion.”

Three weeks before a citywide primary, and suddenly tied for the lead in the Democratic race, Mr. de Blasio is handling his Red Sox attachment gingerly, confirming it in interviews but refraining from indulging in any trash talk about the Yankees

That’s right, there is a diehard Red Sox fan running for mayor of New York City. And, by some accounts, he’s actually winning! Vote for Bill de Blasio! This is unprecedented!

Hm? Oh, so it isn’t actually unprecedented. Current three term mayor Michael Bloomberg grew up in Medford, and during his first campaign for Mayor, the New York Daily News wrote a story nearly identical to the one running in the Times today:

Tossed a softball question yesterday – “Are you a Mets or a Yankees fan?” Bloomberg, 59, replied with a curveball. “Just to show you that while I am not a professional politician, I am slowly learning something,” he said. “My answer to that is: I grew up in Boston, sir.”

The luncheon crowd at the Rotary Club on Staten Island responded with a mixture of laughter and hisses. Sensing the audience’s displeasure, Bloomberg coyly added: “I didn’t say anything else! I just pointed out where I grew up!”

He considers baseball his favorite sport, but colleagues say he’s not a rabid fan. His campaign suggested, however, that Bloomberg – who grew up in Medford, Mass. – is a man who keeps his loyalties. “He grew up with Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski,” spokesman Ed Skyler said. “Mike’s not the type to give up on his heroes.”

As it turned out, Bloomberg is, in fact, the type to give up on his heroes. “Within a year,” the New York Times recalls, “he had declared his devotion to Mr. Mantle and the rest, saying, ‘Make no mistake about it: I’m a Yankee fan.'” What a dirty flip-flop. Is this what we can expect should de Blasio get elected? Are the pressures of the office simply too great to allow any kind of faith to one’s childhood heroes? Probably not. As the NYDN reported, Bloomberg isn’t exactly a diehard fan. Whereas de Blasio talks with passion about his history with the Sox.

Make no mistake, Bloomberg went turncoat, but he began his mayoral life as a Sox guy. Should de Blasio go all the way, New York City will have elected two overt Red Sox supporters for mayor. You have to wonder whether a Yankees fan could ever cut it in Boston’s mayor’s race. And then you remember the time Martha Coakley though Curt Schilling was a Yankees fan and you laugh and laugh and laugh at the prospect. Boston would never elect a Yankees fan, and that probably reflects the ardor of our fan base. So vote Bill de Blasio, New York. What are his politics, you ask? Jeez, what’s with the interrogation? Nothing matters more when selecting our government leaders than their preference for one group of men who excel at swinging a piece of wood and running in a circle over another. Nothing! Not a thing.