It's Thursday. Someone in the world is giving birth. Someone is dying. Someone might be winning at the crap table. But for me, it's laundry day. I work my way through a teenager's smelly soccer socks. I can't understand why my middle son has those "daisy duke" track shorts and three expensive Under Armour outfits in the basket when he has been sick all week . To top it off, the baby has a stain on his tee that has me dry heaving. I wonder if Mama Lincoln or Mama Taft went through this. No, they couldn't have. My curiosity got the best of me and I goggled, "athletic presidents." The result was presidents of local and national athletic groups. After a couple more attempts, I found Richie Whitt with a Dallas blog. He must have an uneventful life like me because he created a list last year that included:
10. George W. Bush His first-pitch strike – in a bullet-proof vest -- before Game 1 of ’01 World Series at Yankee Stadium is best sports moment ever for a U.S. President
9. Woodrow Wilson Played center field for Davidson College
8. Richard Nixon Scrappy linebacker at tiny Whittier College
7. Jimmy Carter Played baseball and ran cross country in the Navy
6. Teddy Roosevelt Boxed at Harvard and played tennis on the White House front lawn
5. Ronald Reagan Played football at Eureka College and portrayed “The Gipper” in Knute Rockne
4. George H. Bush Left-handed first baseman led Yale to baseball’s College World Series in ‘48
3. Dwight Eisenhower A linebacker/running back at Army, the “Kansas Cyclone” hurt a knee tackling Jim Thorpe in 1912
2. Barack Obama Lanky lefty led Occidental College’s basketball team in scoring in ‘79
1. Gerald Ford All-American center led Michigan’s football team to National Championship in ’33
I personally would not have included Nixon. He creeps me out. I would have thrown in JFK for general purposes. He was in lots of pictures sailing or playing football with his brothers. I would have squeezed Clinton in there. He did some Rugby back in the day. Plus, he's such a charismatic person, I think he could con the other team into forfeiting...which brings me to my point. Some people might think politics and sports make horrible partners. I think there might be some sort of drive (I'm not going down the hunter-gather road) that makes a person a favorable competitor in both arenas. Do you think President Obama, an avid basketball player, would throw an elbow under the boards? Is it possible Eisenhower grabbed a face mask on the downlow? Share some of your thoughts about Commander-in-Chief sportmanship.
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I never really thought about Presidents competing in sports. But I was surprised to hear that Obama played basketball, I also thought it was cool that Bush played in the '48 college world series. I think that how Presidents particpated in sports defiitely would show there personality. The type of person that you are in sports definitely shows how you would act in competitive situtaions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with aly that your actions in sports could show how you would react in competitve situations in life. It surprised me to know that Obama played basketball, but it didnt surprise me that our former President wore a bullet proof vest to throw a first pitch at the World Series (it was a bad pitch by the way). I don't like Bush or much of anything he stood for so when I saw him out there it kind of bothered me that he felt the need to wear a vest. I never really thought of Presidents as having lives outside the White House, but I think anyone can play sports whether they are the next President or the next manager of a Mickey Dees.
ReplyDeleteGood article, it honestly doesn't surprise me that a lot of these presidents have played sports. To be a collegiate athlete means that you have learned and exhibited a lot of similar qualities in presidents. Leadership, percerveriance, teamwork, hard work, etc. are all qualities that are an absolute MUST if your the commander and chief. On the sportsmanship side, I can see presidential athlete be a class act on the field, A Derek Jeter type of person. If you have the ability to lead a nation, usually your overall demeanor should be that of dignity and self-respect. However, not all of our presidents have followed this criteria. So you never know, maybe in his college days, Obama did throw an elbow under the boards...
ReplyDeleteA president that plays sports is a president that I happen to like more than these other duds who probably don't even know the rules of football. Obama is the man because he talks about sports and interacts with other fans on a certain level wher epeople can relate with him. He is more of an American in my book knowing that he loves sports just as much as i do.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, thinking outside the box. I never honestly thought about this and you make a good point and it makes for a great post. I really liked what Evan had to say back to you on your post, it is interesting, although they can lead a nation, can they really? Does leading signify that they are good at sports? Everyone has their hobbies, but lets not forget the people who actually play as their career.
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