The Curse of Palin

Did anyone notice how the economy burst right after Sarah Palin came onto the national scene? Or that the presidential race suddenly became a lot nastier when she was on board?

Well now two lucky teams get to deal with the Palin Curse: your very own Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues.


Let's look at the facts:

- After going to the conference finals last spring, the Flyers are STILL winless after six games played. Their goalies are letting anything in the net, as long as it's hard, black, and made of vulcanized rubber.

- To be fair, Philly has some major defensemen injuries. And they've played some tough teams: San Jose twice, the Penguins, the Rangers, and Montreal. But the big bad Flyers couldn't even get a win from Colorado, which, between the beaten-down Andrew Raycroft and the hapless Peter Budaj, is all but without a starting netminder. In fact, the Flyers got creamed that game, 5-2. Is this really the same team that completely shut down juggernaut Montreal in last year playoffs?

Needless to say, things are not looking good for the Flyers.

In the end, surely Sarah Palin brings some modicum of excitement to a game. Let's not forget, this is a hockey mom we're talking about here. But the real lesson is this: if I'm a team president or GM, and Palin's handlers call me asking if she can drop the puck, I'll tell her to scoot her butt to another rink. For all I care, she can go ask Oren Koules if Tampa is free. He's always up for a gimmick.