The sport of politics. The politics of sport.

The image could not have been more stark: Hillary Clinton at Tuesday night’s debate surrounded by three men. Her opponent, Barack Obama, may have not been completely status quo, thanks to his status as a biracial American. But her two inquisitors, Brian Williams and Tim Russert, epitomized the white-men-in-suits class that dominates the media hierarchy like a group of Yurtles atop Dr. Seuss’ famous turtle pile.

Even my boyfriend, a paragon of macho manhood, expressed his view that the boys were “ganging up” on Hillary. More on the debate itself in a separate posting.

The post-debate comments on sports talk radio and Jon Stewart’s ”Daily Show” speak volumes. debate. The gender double standard I heard expresssed was hard even for me – a staunch post-feminist non-whiner – to ignore.

On SportsTalk 980 Wednesday afternoon, one guy said Hillary was like a “shrew,” then went on to laugh with his fellow dudes about how many married men knew what he was talking about. One guy said he’d been waiting for Hillary to impress him, but that that she lost him]after she “whined” about being made to answer debate questions first.

Barack Obama was given credit by at least one of these self-declared members of the “other team” (Republicans) for his calm, cool, sure demeanor. It’s pretty clear from what I’ve heard that professional athletes, especially white ones, are defaulting in large part to the candidate that best represents their own status-quo views: John McCain. But the fact that Obama is earning their respect speaks to that mysterious bond between guys — especially those who love team sports.

Meanwhile, Jon Stewart on his Wednesday night show made a bizarre comment that made me wonder whether he’s ever actually watched an NFL game go into overtime. Commenting on Clinton’s aversion to “going first,” he declared with incredulity, “I mean, it’s not sudden-death overtime!” But his point was nonsensical, since going first is ALWAYS an advantage in sudden-death overtime. Maybe Stewart’s newly back-on-the-job writers were the ones who were clueless. Fact is, he’s the one who spoke the words and he’s the one who should have known what he was talking about.

The boys who man the airwaves have made their sexist stripes clear when it comes to Hillary Clinton. Some of them have tried to like her, and many others won’t even bother. So what kind of woman, or lady, might the guys of America actually respond to as a potential presidential candidate?

Two hints: She ain’t running for anything, and she coulda been a contender — for NFL Commissioner.

(For more insights on this, go to www.redzonepolitics.com and order my book, “Democrats in the Red Zone: an Independent voter’s take on the game of political perception.” There’s a whole section in there on the challenges of female leadership at the highest levels.)

Yours Truly, A.F. Cook