John McCain was in attendance (not sure about Palin), and Brady Quinn took the microphone briefly to make a few remarks. (There is no truth to the report that Brady held out for a better microphone, and that Derek Anderson then stepped in and wowed the crowd with surprisingly strong and deep remarks of his own, rendering Quinn useless on the sidelines. Nope, that was just a rumor).

According to Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Brady Quinn’s father is a Vietnam Veteran who has long been an admirer of John McCain’s. Brady was able to introduce his father to McCain while attending the event. Browns left tackle Joe Thomas also attended the McCain-Palin rally with Brady Quinn, but did not speak.

Look, it is not my habit of mixing politics and sports here at Midwest Sports Fans, but this story caught my eye for a few reasons. Here are a few of them:

–I completely understand why a Vietnam Vet like Brady Quinn’s father would admire John McCain. We all should. His bravery and commitment to his country while in captivity is astounding. And I am assuming that is what Mr. Quinn admires, because it certainly could not be McCain’s support for troops while a member of the U.S. Senate.

Well, I heard something today that astounded me: John McCain was one of 4 U.S. Senators to receive a score of “D” or lower from the Congressional record analysts at VeteranReportCard.com. Scroll down to the bottom of the list of congressmen linked here and you will find him. (Note: Barack Obama is not on the “A” or “D” list. He scored a “B”.)

Okay then…so much for not mixing sports and politics. But seriously, regardless of which way you lean politically, that is a shocking conclusion. I would have expected John McCain to be right near the top of the list.

Okay, back to the reasons:

–Sarah Palin has been accused of having style but little substance and being more pretty-faced-small-state-governor than future potential President. (And to be fair, Barack Obama has also dealt with the style/substance accusation.) Similarly, Brady Quinn has been accused of being more pretty-boy-Notre-Dame-QB that substantive future NFL team leader. He and Palin probably have a lot to relate about.

Come to think of it, Palin’s rugged toughness and Quinn’s obvious intellect and statesmanship leads to me wonder: would the United States and the Browns be better off if the two of them switched roles.

–I love the picture above of John McCain, Joe Thomas, and Brady Quinn at the rally. Joe Thomas did not speak, not that this goes against his naturally reserved disposition; but, do you think Brady brought Joe along because he was a little worried about McCain’s famous temper and wanted to protect his blind side? Perhaps.

–Because this story is about Brady Quinn, doesn’t it provide a perfectly reasonable forum to post some of the greatest and most ironic photos ever taken of a professional football player? I believe it does. However, I’ve already done that in a previous post and to be quite honest it is just too easy and cliched. So go here to see Brady Quinn in all his rugged, tough, marlboro-man-like glory. We have more important issues to discuss. (Quick note: If you do click on that link and read the article, try not to laugh at the absurity of the argument based on the start of this season. It seemed reasonable in the preseason!)

–And finally, who made a worse economic decision? The President, Congress, and everyone else involved in the myriad factors that led to current crumble of the U.S. markets; or, Brady Quinn for holding out, signing a contract filled with low base salaries and escalators based on playing time and performance, and then losing the opportunity to start because he held out and watching his own value plummet when Derek Anderson stepped in last year for Charlie Frye and claimed the starting QB job. I’d say both decisions were pretty egregious, but Brady Quinn gets the benefit of the doubt here as his decision affected only he and his agent. (And he still got plenty of endorsements to supplement his income.) The nationwide economic crisis is just a tad more severe.

So, in conclusion, while Brady Quinn’s appearance at a McCain-Palin rally may have been surprising upon first glance, further analysis reveals that there are many intuitive relationships that can be drawn between Brady Quinn, the McCain-Palin ticket, and politics.

If and when Brady Quinn does see the field for the Browns this year or in the future, let’s just hope that there are not any left-leaning defensive ends or linebackers who decide to dole out punishment (*ahem) liberally because they disagree with Brady’s stance.

[tags]brady quinn, cleveland browns, nfl, football, politics, john mccain, sarah palin, presidential election[/tags]