Massachusetts's Favorite Sport...Really!

On Tuesday night, the Boston Red Sox, fighting to keep pace with the first place New York Yankees, lost to the worst team in baseball, the Kansas City Royals.

On Wednesday, Harry Sinden, president of the Boston Bruins for the past seventeen years, resigned his position.

Though neither of these events could be directly tied to the designation of basketball as the official sport of the state of Massachusetts on Tuesday, who can doubt the connection?

And who will be surprised if New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft re-opens negotiations with Connecticut regarding the construction of a new home for the Pats?

In making a case for basketball as the official sport of his adopted springboard...I'm sorry, state... Governor Mitt Romney said "our linkage to history is what makes this appropriate for this to be the state's official sport." This led people to wonder why he didn't just say "link," and there was some speculation that Mr. Romney had decided that George Bush had been elected president because he couldn't or wouldn't speak English.

The designation of basketball as the official sport of Massachusetts apparently began when a class of fourth graders at the Joseph P. Mulready School in Hudson, Massachusetts, felt the cranberry, which is the official berry of the state, should be joined by an official sport. The Massachusetts House and Senate fell into line, forwarding the necessary bill to Governor Romney, who said "I'm a big Red Sox fan. I hope this doesn't affect the quality of my season ticket placement."

"Ho, ho, ho," laughed all those who hope for jobs in Washington following the 2008 elections.

As part of the ceremony during which the bill was signed, Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck said "We intend to continue using basketball as a force for bringing goodwill and brotherhood worldwide, starting here in Massachusetts." If any of the dignitaries on hand for the event wondered whether perhaps the Celtics might better address a mission less ambitious than "bringing goodwill and brotherhood worldwide," say, for example, making the playoffs, they were too polite to bring it up.