Editorial | For politicians, playing both sides is a bad strategy when it comes to football

Politicians try their best to appeal to as many people as possible, often situating themselves as close to the policies of the median voter as they can without completely alienating too much of their core base. As unfortunate as it is for their more impassioned constituents, keeping specific opinions ambiguous is often the safest option.

Except when it comes to sports.

Recently, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick and billionaire Trump advocate Elon Musk have visited Pennsylvania sporting events in an attempt to win over voters. Football is the national pastime, so in theory, a day at the stadium should boost a candidate’s image as an approachable, middle-class-loving guy.

The problem is that Pennsylvania is not a homogenous state. Whether it’s football teams or gas stations, eastern and western Pennsylvania have wildly different tastes, and they are in no way quiet about them. It should then come as no surprise that Pennsylvanians got a little pissed off in the comment section when McCormick attended an Eagles tailgate and posted a picture on X with the caption, “Fun tailgate in Philly today. Excited to watch the Steelers throttle the Raiders!”

McCormick isn’t so stupid as to believe that the Steagles are back — he attended the tailgate for the Philadelphia game but also wanted to express his love for Pittsburgh playing later in the day. Unfortunately for him, the take “I love the Eagles and the Steelers equally” is the take of a person who either is not from Pennsylvania or does not care at all about football.

Elon Musk made the same slipup when he admitted to being both an Eagles and a Steelers fan while on the campaign trail for Donald Trump. 

Ironically, it’s an incredibly alienating move for a politician to attend a football game in Pennsylvania. They are faced with the choice to either choose a loyalty between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh or try to appeal to both sides, revealing that they aren’t actually the passionate football fan that they’re pretending to be.

Sitting on the fence might work for the hot-button issues dividing a candidate’s constituency, but Pennsylvanians have made it clear they won’t stand for a candidate who fakes being a fan of both our eastern and western teams. 

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh may never agree when choosing between the Eagles and the Steelers, Wawa or Sheetz, “youse” or “yinz,” but we can at least agree that we value loyalty to our respective cities. Maybe it’s time our politicians learn that as well.

The Pitt News editorial is a weekly article written by the opinions editors in collaboration with all other desk editors. It reflects the collective opinion of the current Pitt News editorial staff.