Have you no shame, sir? That was a rhetorical question

Only in the irony-rich, cash-poor NHL: Two weeks ago, the St. Louis Blues were trotting out the telegenic half of the Republican vice-presidential ticket in the midst of the greatest financial crisis in the U.S. in seventy-five years.

Now they are turning by said crisis to their advantage:

The team announced Monday that at every remaining Saturday home game beginning Nov. 29, the organization will call the seat number of a fan and pay that person's mortgage or rent for four months, up to $4,000 US total.

It is a not half-bad idea for a promotion and maybe one should leave it at that, but seriously, this is like something out of the last days of Nero's Rome or France around 1788.

Blues owner Dave Checketts, as Puck Daddy has detailed, donates a lot of money to Republicans, the party who generally had more to do with the global economic meltdown. Now his franchise turns it around in order to create some kind of whiz-bang promotion?

It just marketing and maybe it should be left alone. Another reading is that this is how desperate NHL teams are getting to get people in the seats, even in St. Louis, which has had a team since 1967 and has had an even longer history in pro hockey. It's the Blues' business and they're free to do what they wish. That doesn't mean people can't laugh like hell at the irony. You would not see any Canadian team offering to pay anyone's rent or mortgage.

Related:
St. Louis Blues contest pays mortgage or rent for their fans (The Canadian Press)