The New Republic (via the Philadephia Daily News) has an interesting item about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and his decision to appear on a Philadelphia sports talk radio station in hopes of appealing to "working-class" voters in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary.

It was interesting not because Obama loves to play pick-up basketball, which he does; you can read about he and Sports Illustrated writer S.L. Price playing one-on-one here:

It was interesting because Obama and the radio hosts, Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti, didn't talk about sports at all. Personally, I like politics and follow it regularly. It's just as entertaining as sports, and often, it's just as superficial. But I'm not sure I'd be too thrilled if I were a Phillies fan interested in discussing whether or not Cole Hamels can stay healthy for a full year, and I tuned into my favorite radio station only to have to sit through a half hour of what amounted to a political endorsement. It annoyed me to no end that Curt Schilling decided to celebrate the Red Sox World Series victory in 2004 by running out the next day and campaigning for George W. Bush.

Or when Bill Clinton was suddenly the world's biggest Arkansas Razorbacks fan during the 1994 NCAA Tournament. Let's not even get started on Hillary Clinton's claim that she can be both a Cubs fan AND a Yankees fan.

A lot people listen to sports talk radio specifically because they don't want to spend their commute thinking about politics, whether they get their news from Rush Limbaugh or from NPR. They don't want to concern themselves with John McCain's thoughts on how to beat a zone defense or Brian Roberts' position on school vouchers.

Does it annoy you when those two worlds collide?

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg