MMA and politics -- two bloodsports
I just had to share this, because it cracked me up.
Tonight, I've been talking to some members of York County's state House of Representatives delegation about the bonusgate scandal. (The story's going to run later this week. Keep an eye out for it, because it's going to be really, really good, like pretty much all of my stories.)
So far, all of the people indicted have been Democrats. But even the Republican state representatives aren't happy about this, because they say that everybody tends to get painted with one brush. A lot of people just don't understand distinctions such as one caucus being involved, but not another.
And yeah, that's true. I've seen it plenty of times myself. Members of the public will show up at township council meetings wanting to know what council members are doing about the war in Iraq. People tend to think of government at the local, state and federal level as one big, amorphous chunk.
So here's what cracked me up. On Saturday night, I was watching a pay-per-view mixed martial arts event called "Affliction: Banned." (For more coverage on that, be sure to see my friend Ted Czech's excellent blog, "MMA Explosion," on the York Daily Record Website.)
One of the fighters, Matt Lindland, is running for the Oregon state House of Representatives. Apparently he's already won the Republican primary, now he has to win over a Democrat in November.
At one point, one of the announcers made a reference to Lindland serving in the U.S. Congress. Either he got some wrong information or -- like many people -- he doesn't understand the distinction between the state and federal House of Representatives.
As far as Lindland goes, I give him credit for campaigning and training for professional MMA events at the same time. They're both, strenuous, time-consuming pursuits. I guess the main difference is whether you kicked in the face in an actual or metaphorical sense.
