Vice President Joe Biden made a cardinal sin while speaking in San Francisco this week, muffing a football analogy and inadvertently suggesting to a crowd that he thought the 49ers would lose to the New York Giants on Sunday.
"The Giants [are] on their way to the Super Bowl," Biden enthusiastically told a group gathered at a private fundraiser, apparently referring to one of New York's NFL teams. He received "good-natured boos" for the comment, according to a pool report.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Biden attempted to make a rapid recovery:
After suggesting that the Giants were heading to the Super Bowl, Biden quickly recognized the gaffe and explained he was accustomed to thinking in terms of the San Francisco Giants and their baseball wins. His next reference was to the "49ers on their way" to the Big Game.
According to the Oakland Tribune, the event cost between $2,500 to $10,000 per ticket and brought in a total sum in the range of $275,000 to $1.1 million.
It's not unusual for the intersection of sports and politics to create some clumsy exchanges. Last year, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) tried to give a rousing speech about comebacks, but he instead accidentally jabbed at the heart of Cleveland sports fans.
"We never thought (former Cleveland Browns quarterback) Bernie Kosar would bring the Browns back and win that big championship game," Kasich said in November, amid signs that his controversial anti-union bill would be defeated at the polls. Of course, Kosar never actually won a championship game with Cleveland, losing in all three attempts. Kasich's anti-union measure would go on to meet a similar fate.