Massachusetts Sens. Scott Brown (R) and John Kerry (D) are
developing a healthy rivalry, but it’s not over partisan politics. It’s
all about sports.
The athletic lawmakers faced off on the
National Mall on Tuesday for a friendly softball game between their
office teams, which Brown’s team, the Great Scotts, won handily, 11-6.
Brown, wearing a team jersey and shorts, played a very capable first
base for eight innings and went 2 for 3 at the plate, scoring two runs.
Kerry,
who arrived in a shirt and tie, had one at-bat and grounded out to
third.
But before he batted, the senator took off his tie — to
whooping cheers from his staffers.
When it was Brown’s turn to
bat, however, Brown asked to wear Kerry’s tie at the plate. Kerry was
happy to oblige and Brown batted in “business attire.”
In a twist
of fate, Brown was tagged out once, at first base by Kerry intern Jack
Schlossberg, son of Caroline Kennedy and the great-nephew of Brown’s
predecessor, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
Meanwhile, up
in Boston, the senators’ home state staffs also played, and again,
Brown’s team won 12-9.
But fear not, Kerry fans, there’s an
opportunity for redemption in just a few weeks.
Kerry and Brown
will both race in the annual PanMass Challenge, a 110-mile bike race on
Aug. 1-2.
And while this will be Kerry’s seventh time racing in the
event, this year the cause is even more personal. As he reminded
supporters in an e-mail on Wednesday, Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry,
is battling breast cancer.
The senator also lost his dear friend,
the late Sen. Kennedy, to brain cancer last summer.
Fitting, then,
that Brown, Kennedy’s replacement, will pedal the 110-mile course, which
benefits the Jimmy Fund.
Since joining the Senate in January,
Brown has participated in basketball games, softball tournaments and
charity running races, so he’s likely to be in good shape for the bike
challenge.
As for Kerry, he promises, “I’ll give every ounce of
energy I have on that 110-mile ride.”
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