MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2002 — Boston’s parochial political culture consistently rewards the wrong people and hinders the right people. Nothing illustrates this truth better than the confluence of two recent events in the sporting world. Two weeks ago, Red Sox CEO John Harrington, a favorite of Boston’s Irish-dominated insider set, orchestrated a $700 million sale of the team so rotten that Attorney General Tom Reilly stepped in to investigate. Yesterday, the New England Patriots, meanwhile, clinched the AFC East championship with an 11-5 record — reversing last year’s mark and winning the division for the first time since 1997. The Patriots are owned by Robert Kraft, who is Jewish. House Speaker Tom Finneran once alluded to Kraft by calling him a " fat-ass millionaire. " The two have subsequently patched up their differences. Peter Beinart, now the editor of the New Republic, captured the atmospherics of this dispute in a February 24, 1997 "Boston Diarist" column.

There was a time when Kraft wanted to build a new stadium for the Patriots in South Boston — on his own dime no less. But he was literally run out of town. (He almost moved the team to Connecticut.) South Boston residents and local political leaders invoked a litany of reasons why the Patriots, a team that plays only eight regular-season home games — a tenth of a major-league baseball season — could not have a home on the waterfront. Yet some of these same leaders began calling for a baseball stadium not far from the Kraft site — that is, until this month.

Next week the Patriots will host what will be the final game at Foxboro Stadium, an ugly monstrosity that will be replaced by the magnificent CMGi Field, most of which will be paid for by Kraft without taking private land. Though government financing of stadiums is never a good idea, it should be pointed out that Kraft’s deal came to $130 million less than the amount authorized by state leaders for a new Red Sox ballpark. (The state spent only $ 70 million in infrastructure improvements to CMGi stadium.)

Speaking on Bob Lobel’s Sports Final on WBZ-TV, Boston Globe sports columnist Will McDonough made a striking comment about Harrington, who had once been a darling of advertising exec Jack Connors, Boston College alumni, and other city insiders. McDonough, who acts as something of a mouthpiece for this crew, told Lobel Harrington’s actions made him " sad. " McDonough, at least, seems to have smartened up about who his true friends really are: a winning team with an owner who foots his own bills and who happens to be Jewish.

The juxtaposition of these two events in the sports world ought to give the other members of McDonough’s crew pause, too.