October 21, 1972 Issue
By Hendrik Hertzberg
The New Yorker, October 21, 1972 P. 29
Comment about basebal, football & politics. First a complaint about the constant playing of organ music during a baseball game the writer watched on TV. As for football, watching it reminds writer of a bit of political reminiscence which appeared in "Rolling Stone", the rock newspaper, last March in an article by Hunter Thompson about the New Hampshire primary. Mr. Thompson wrote that one night in 1968 he was selected to ride in the limousine with Richard Nixon because he was the only press person who knew anything about professional football. He found that Mr. Nixon's knowledge & enthusiasm were genuine. In liking football the Pres. is connecting with some sort of reality - but what sort of reality? Writer thinks it is the abstract reality of watching from above, safely out of it. To enjoy baseball, on the other hand, is to imagine oneself on the mound with the players. Pres Nixon often speaks of the war in Vietnam as if it were a football game: Operation Forward Pass, Operation End Run, the game plan. Does this have anything to do with the apparent equanimity with which he "delivers ordnance" to Hanoi?
This article appears in the print edition of the October 21, 1972, issue.
Hendrik Hertzberg is a senior editor and staff writer at The New Yorker. He regularly blogs about politics.
Bombing-N. Vietnam
Rolling Stone (Publ.)
Vietnam-South