CIA officials continued to express their confusion over Osama bin Laden’s references to the Red Sox World Series victory in his most recent videotape.
“American pigs must die,” bin Laden says at one point. “But let me digress for a moment to say that I was truly inspired by the Red Sox World Series victory. That Curt Schilling is one gutsy man.”
One CIA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that it’s possible bin Laden could have been delivering some sort of coded message. “While not impossible, it’s highly unlikely that he is a Red Sox fan,” he reasoned, “or that he could even see the World Series while living in a cave somewhere. We’re looking into the possibility that he was communicating to someone by code.”
In another section of the tape, bin Laden seems to be taking a potshot at Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. “I say again, death to America. But I also find myself trying to understand why in the world the Yankees started Kevin Brown in game seven against the Red Sox. Why? But I guess that’s what happens when you spend, spend, spend on hitting and don’t pay attention to pitching. Pitching wins championships. Any fool knows that.”
While the question of how well bin Laden understands or follows baseball is unclear, he seemed to express a genuine affection for the Red Sox. “I must say that I found myself rooting for these self-proclaimed idiots—which is redundant since all Americans are idiots. But that Johnny Damon, what an impressive beard.”
Posted by: Mike | 12/03/2004 at 08:15 PM