Running afoul of local sports fans is one of the cardinal sins of politicking. It's doubly blasphemous in Red Sox Nation. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was once considered a lock to win the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. But after a stretch of anemic campaigning and missteps, the Democrat went down in defeat at the hands of Tea Party-fueled upstart Scott Brown. The pinnacle of Coakley's bungling came in a January talk-radio interview when, after dismissing Rudy Giuliani as a fan of the New York Yankees (the Sox's archnemesis), she ascribed the same loyalties to legendary MLB pitcher Curt Schilling, another Brown booster. Schilling, he of the bloody sock, hallowed hero of Fenway who led the Sox to their first World Series title since 1918, is anything but a Yankee fan. In a separate interview with the Boston Globe, Coakley scoffed at the notion that she should be devoting more of her campaign to retail politics; "Standing outside Fenway Park? In the Cold? Shaking hands?" she asked incredulously. Those big league whiffs inspired Massachusetts voters to send Coakley to the showers.
The Top 10 Everything of 2010
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Apologies
- Top 10 Biz Deals
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Campaign Ads
- Top 10 Comebacks
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Facebook Trends
- Top 10 Fashion Statements
- Top 10 Feuds
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Food Trends
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Stories
- Top 10 iPhone Apps
- Top 10 Late-Night Jokes
- Top 10 Magazine Covers
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Movies
- Top 10 New Species
- Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- Top 10 Numbers
- Top 10 Oddball News Stories
- Top 10 Overreported Stories
- Top 10 Pictures
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Political Gaffes
- Top 10 Reality-TV Moments
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 Talented Web Videos
- Top 10 Toys
- Top 10 Travel Moments
- Top 10 TV Commercials
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Tweets
- Top 10 Twitter Moments
- Top 10 World News Stories
- Top 10 Underreported Stories
- Top 10 U.S. News Stories
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Viral Videos
In 50 wide-ranging lists, TIME surveys the highs and lows, the good and the bad, of the past 12 months