What’s been overlooked in the coverage of Sarah Palin’s recent announcement to resign the Alaskan governorship is her very poor basketball analogy.

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me – sports… basketball. I use it because you’re naïve if you don’t see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket… and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I’m doing that – keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities – smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it’s time to pass the ball – for victory.

First of all, if she is the subject of a multi-teaming full-court press, she should not attempt to drive through this press. She should pass the ball to an open teammate, immediately.  Second, a point guard should see the whole floor, and not just “keep her eye on the basket.”  A shooting guard, maybe.  Not a point guard. Third, in basketball, both teams implicitly agree that “the ball” is an orange bouncy sphere that each team desires to possess for the purpose of shooting it through a slightly larger 10-foot high cylinder. In Sarah’s game, her ball is “smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom.” Her opponent is currently playing with a different ball, which is why Sarah has lost hers out-of-bounds and is currently sitting on the bench. Or something like that.

Update: See Deadspin’s diagram.