The second of the 2012 US election campaign candidate debates takes place tonight with the vice presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan going head-to-head.
Unlike the presidential candidates debates, I can’t imagine too many people will be swayed to vote one way or the other based on the vice presidential debate. This allows the debaters to be a little more off-the-cuff and leaves open the door to controversy.
In an effort to liven up the debate I thought it might be an idea to have the debaters face off in a hexagon just like the ultimate fighters, but then I realized fans of ultimate fighting already have well-trained professionals to watch fight, ditto for kick-boxing and wrestling, so I scratched those as well.
Then it struck me, hockey may be the answer. With the NHL lockout dragging on fans of hockey are chomping at the bit now that the season should have begun. Perhaps they can kill two birds with one stone: ensure an entertaining debate and satisfy the poor hockey fans.
So I suggest they use a hockey theme for the vice presidential candidates’ debate; count shots (verbal barbs) taken at the opponent and those that scored; if a debater goes over his allotted time, penalize him for thirty seconds during which his opponent can say anything about him.
Give the participants hockey sticks and gloves and make sure they are positioned close enough to allow for some good old-fashioned distracting tapping and poking (like in the old days of the NHL, not the current version where a sideways glance is an interference penalty), maybe the occasional hook of the notes off the podium.
No doubt this will eventually lead to more physicality and who knows, maybe the gloves will come off and the sticks will be dropped and a bit of a scrap will ensue.
I realize there is almost a 30 year age difference between Biden and Ryan and it might not be a fair fight, but I see Biden as a bit of a Gordie Howe figure; older yes, but wilier, experienced in the ways of the game. And let’s face it there is no shortage of NHLers whose initial meeting with Gordie Howe was elbow-first!
And to make it even more fun, have one of those replacement NFL referees act as moderator – no, maybe that’s going too far
Drop the puck and start debating!
DCMontreal 