Paul Ryan supports wrong football team at GOP Convention
Paul Ryan's not-so-great week continues in Cleveland where, in an attempt to motivate members of the Pennsylvania delegation, he wound up alienating more people than he excited.
Speaking to the delegation at an event on Monday morning, Ryan held up an iconic "Terrible Towel," the yellow towels waved at games by Pittsburgh Steelers fans, and said, "I want to win this election so darn badly, that I am willing to do this."
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It wasn't the most diplomatic move to make because, remember, this is an NFL team we're talking about - and people take their sports very, very seriously.
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For instance, one might wonder what the Philadelphia Eagles fans felt when they saw this.
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But maybe even more egregious is that Ryan pulled off the desperate pandering in Cleveland, home of the Steelers' division rival Browns, who have given the city very little to cheer about in the last 20 years. Firstly the franchise left town for Baltimore where it won a Super Bowl and then the "new" Browns team sunk to depressing lows, even for Cleveland.
It's rubbing salt in the wound of your host town, which is already on edge thanks to your divisive, outspoken nominee.
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Even more ridiculous? Ryan apparently hasn't learned from past mistakes. An avowed Packers fan, Ryan has done this before.
When he did it in 2012, there were jokes that the Romney/Ryan ticket lost Wisconsin because of it. (The Packers beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV the year before, too.)
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Whether or not karma will catch up to Ryan remains to be seen. Unless it already has.
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Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
