OK -- we know that Kerry plays hockey.

Now, the gold standard for myth-building recreational activities in presidential politics is still JFK's touch football -- but since Kennedy, the two presidents who've gotten the most mileage out of what they do in their leisure time have been Reagan (horseback riding) and George W. (clearing brush and other ranch activities). There's been a slight undercurrent of fear in the discussion of these two presidents' leisure, as if the press is cowering before a dominance challenge: OK, you pasty East Coast liberals, you wanna try doing some of this?

We're regularly told that no one from the Northeast can ever be president -- it's never said in so many words, but the implication is that the South and West breed real men, partly through rugged physical activity that's native to those regions, while the Northeast breeds pantywaists.

But New Englanders play hockey, which is a pretty tough game. Oh, sure, it's played all over the place now, but it's a game with deep roots in New England. Why shouldn't New England get a little respect from the press for characteristic activities that involve toughness? Why is Bush with a chainsaw regarded as any more mythically macho than Kerry with a hockey stick?