Gov. Christine Gregoire was booed by the fans of the so-called West side school as she presented the Apple Cup trophy to the Cougars on Saturday night. Mostly the booing had to do with the Cougars, but Gregoire became a convenient target for the Husky fans trying to exit around me:
“Thief.”
“Just trying to build up government…”
“Rossi’s my man…”
Although Gregoire is known, or would be like to be known, for inserting herself between two warring factions (doctors, lawyers), I’m wondering how wise it is for a politician to insert themselves into the Apple Cup.
A much friend who is much wiser in these sorts of things said that its only been recently since Governors started presenting the Apple Cup. Gary Locke was the first one, and I could assume people reacted to him with more of a shrug. Through circumstance, Gregoire is a more polarizing figure. If you’re paying attention, you either hate her or like her and roll your eyes at the folks who hate her.
So, what’s the point of either pissing off the folks who should like you (Huskies) by handing over a trophy to the Cougars, or further pissing off the people who already don’t like you (Cougars)? Does she have to do it?
No, I don’t think so. If Locke was the only one doing it, there’s not much of a tradition there. And, if she wants to hand out trophies at a football game, she could go to the Gridiron Classic, the state football tournament. While the game mean something, the losers are usually less focussed on hating their opponents.
Or, she could hand out the trophies to the Academic All State Team. See, it has to do with education, which is good.
