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Oh, no, he didn't. He couldn't. He shouldn't.

There is no way I read correctly in Tuesday's Tribune that Gov. Bill Richardson, when asked what his dream gig would be outside of politics, answered - gulp - playing center field for the Bronx Bombers, better known as the New York Yankees.

What, you might ask, is the problem? The man likes baseball, played semipro, and even came close to being drafted (so says him anyway).

Here's the problem: This is a man who went to a private high school in Concord, Mass., and graduated from Tufts University, which is not many mass-transit stops from Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, the team the governor has previously said he loved.

So, he claims to love the Boston Red Sox but dreams of being in Yankee pinstripes?

Oh, no.

For those of you not into the most intense rivalry in American sport, please excuse those of us who are as we run around in circles with our hair on fire.

It has been a wild couple of days. I've had calls from friends in New England, e-mails, some blog rants and, running through it all, complete and total confusion.

For some clarity, I caught up with Ian Martin, morning host for KNML-AM (610), the Sports Animal, the other night, who is no stranger to the oddities of fandom.

I had a simple question: Can you love both the Yankees and the Red Sox?

His simple answer: No.

"If you're talking any other fans, they'd let it slide," Martin said. "But there's no other group of fans who will be less forgiving than Red Sox fans. You accept that."

What he's talking about is Red Sox Nation. It's a global phenomenon. It drives non-Red Sox fans bonkers. Even when they play on the road, most Red Sox games feature loud and incessant "Let's go, Red Sox!" chants all game long. We're everywhere.

And Richardson just had to pick center field, a position currently occupied for the Yankees by a certain ex-Red Sox icon named Johnny Damon. Better known in Red Sox Nation as Judas.

I have the T-shirt to prove it.

Thanks, Governor. Thanks a lot. That hurt.

Heck, even Congresswoman Heather Wilson, a New Hampshire native and rabid Red Sox fan, weighed in on the matter.

"It is impossible," she said. "Gotta be a slip of the tongue."

More than impossible, it's ridiculous.

And that brings me to my theory. I don't think it was a slip of the tongue at all. I think the governor is going for presidential-year votes. With pinstripes.

Could it be his professed love of all things Red Sox puts him in a bad light with all of Yankee Nation? Could this be a shameless appeal to them?

I believe that's what this is all about. And it's going to backfire.

There is no way either side will give him wiggle room. You have to pick one. Yankees or Red Sox. That's the nature of the rivalry.

Brad Condon, a bartender at Coaches Sports Grill who is originally from Sydney, Australia, and is going on five years in Albuquerque, summed it up nicely.

"He has rocks in his head," he said.

Atta, boy. You're going to go far in this country.

An avowed New York Mets fan, Condon's American League allegiance is to the Red Sox. He's also a sworn Yankees hater.

The governor, he said, is not getting his vote.

Governor, proud members of Red Sox Nation, the Albuquerque chapter, need some help. Which team is it? One or the other. It can't be both. Your political future could be riding on this answer.