Presidents and Pigskins
Tevi Troy ·
Dec 29, 2010 at 9:55am
I just received the nicest email from Peter about my piece this morning at Real Clear Sports on the rocky marriage of presidents and football throughout the last century. I argue that all presidents should stay away from football, but Obama even more so, as he seems to have trouble with sports in general. Remember his awkward first pitch in at the 2009 All-Star Game?
I detail a number of awkward presidential interactions with football in the article, but am curious if Ricochet readers recall other incidents where our presidents should have stayed away from sports?
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Jul '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Clinton and the baseball strike of '94-'95.
When Clinton was telling the American People to call congress and tell them to "Play ball," Rush Limbaugh said, "Oh, yeah? I would like My Listeners to call congress and tell them, 'CUT TAXES!'" Phone lines immediately went down.
Epic.
May '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Thankfully, John "F" Kerry's aspirations breathed their last on the frozen tundra of Lambert Field.
Aug '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Who was Obama's favorite Red Sox player again?
May '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Not Red Sox it was the White Sox. He couldn't name a favorite player past or present.
May '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Charlie Crist's first pitch was the perfect coda to the year-long trainwreck that was his 2010.
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
I believe that Peter and Nathaniel are referring to two separate embarrassing incidents. Peter is correct that Obama could not name a White Sox player, but John Kerry said that his favorite Red Sox player was "Manny Ortez," a mishmash of 2004 Bosox stars David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Aug '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
So our President reached out to Michael Vick and called his "owner" to congratulate him ? Humm...
Glad I don't "have a dog in that fight".
May '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
You can find anything on the internet:
From http://www.sarantakes.com/nixon-time.html:
--1972--
January 3
Nixon calls Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula at 1:30 a.m. During the phone conversation, the President suggests that the Dolphins use a quick slant pass play in the Super Bowl. Their talk lasts roughly 10 minutes.
January 4
Press coverage of the Nixon-Shula conversation gives the misleading impression that Nixon actually designed a play for the Dolphins.
Jun '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Not just in the United States, Robert Stanfield who was leader of the Opposition in Canada was putatively a very athletic guy. Trouble was that someone threw him a pass during a national election campaign. Mr. Stanfield, likely because he was taken by surprise, fumbled the ball. He is to this day known as the greatest prime minister Canada never had. His fumble is one of the iconic photographs of Canadian politics. Life can be so cruel!
Edited on Dec 29, 2010 at 1:01pmOct '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
I've always wanted professional and collegiate sports to be a refuge from political partisanship, which is why I was mightily annoyed last year when the NFL management and owners scuttled Rush Limbaugh's involvement in the investment group that was trying to purchase the St. Louis Rams. The sports media using the recent success of the New Orleans Saints to continue to push the "Bush caused Katrina" fallacy was a damned disgrace as well.
Oct '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
And another example of the pernicious politicization of sports was evident last spring during the NBA playoffs when the Phoenix Suns gave their fans the New Jersey state bird by publicly and arrogantly opposing Arizona's 1070 anti-illegal immigration law. That pathetic act of grandstanding made me (a loyal Spurs fan) do the unthinkable: root for the Lakers.
Edited on Dec 29, 2010 at 1:09pmJul '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Right on, Mike. Let's not forget the feminization with all that pink.
Oct '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
If you count fishing as a sport, Jimmy Carter and that killer rabbit didn't work out too well.
Oct '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Yeah, all of that pink adorning 350 lb. defensive linemen this past October was disconcerting to say the least.
Nov '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Cas Balicki: Not just in the United States, Robert Stanfield who was leader of the Opposition in Canada was putatively a very athletic guy. Trouble was that someone threw him a pass during a national election campaign. Mr. Stanfield, likely because he was taken by surprise, fumbled the ball. He is to this day known as the greatest prime minister Canada never had. His fumble is one of the iconic photographs of Canadian politics. Life can be so cruel! · Dec 29 at 12:47pm
Edited on Dec 29 at 01:01 pm
Cas - when I saw the headline, that was the first thought that crossed my mind. There were 36 photos taken of Stanfield playing football, only that one made the Globe and Mail. Surprise, surprise....
Nov '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Sports are an integral and admirable part of American culture; think a U.S. president should have, at the very least, a rudimentary and working knowledge of these particular pastimes.
Sure would be nice to have another president capable of throwing a strike from the rubber in Yankee Stadium...
Edited on Dec 29, 2010 at 6:24pmSep '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
I believe Manny Ortez was the pharmacist that Ortiz and Ramirez were using during that curse-breaking season.
Nov '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Couldn't agree more.
Nov '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
Both President Eisenhower and President Ford were football players during their college years and quite good ones, too.
Nov '10
Re: Presidents and Pigskins
And, President G. H. W. Bush was a fine college baseball player.