Saints Promotion: Not Quite a Bobblehead

BOB von STERNBERG, Star Tribune


The St. Paul Saints, long known for offbeat, sometimes edgy, promotions, have come up with a real doozy for this Sunday's game.

While lots of sports franchises hand out bobblehead dolls, usually depicting their players, the Saints are handing out 2,500 "bobblefoot" knicknacks.

The keepsakes consist of a miniature bathroom stall with a couple of lower legs and feet. One of the feet is springloaded and "taps," which, the Saints' press release says, is in honor of National Tap Dance Day.

Right.

The team also takes pains to note: "It doesn't matter if your tapping style is done with a 'wide stance' or is used as some sort of code."

That's a none-too-subtle reference to Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, who pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer arrested him for allegedly soliciting sex in a bathroom stall at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The undercover officer who arrested Craig said the senator's foot-tapping, bumping feet and swiping his hand under the bathroom stall amounted to well-known code used in soliciting sex.

Craig, however, said his foot-tapping was the result of the fact that he has "a wide stance."