Sporting Politics

I a couple of weeks late on this, but with Chris Berman's interview of both Barack Obama and John McCain--this year's Presidential candidates--I had to talk about it.

First, Presidential candidates, especially this year, seem larger than life. And they want to get every vote possible, so to present themselves on a scale like Monday Night Football, the day before the Election, it doesn't surprise me.

It was like during the primaries, when the candidates from both parties made an appearance on a WWE program. Do you really think that professional wrestling fans follow Presidential politics?

Same with the average sports fan. Do they follow politics with the same fine-toothed comb the use to scrutinize their teams, their opponents and their favorite players?

I wouldn't think so.

But the similarities between politics and sport can be seen in all the sports analogies used to describe the campaign. For debates, there's a boxing allegory. I've seen political pundits use football terminology to describe the race for Electoral College votes. We have underdogs and favorites, upsets and blowout victories in politics, just like we do in sport.

And we have parties and tailgates for political events (debates and results-watching) just like we do for the big game.

I also have always said that the race for the presidency, with each state being accrued certain amount of "points," is the grandest game of all. It's the most important game, with analysis and pundits and fans for both candidates.

Tuesday, November 4th will be just as huge--if not bigger--than the Super Bowl or the World Cup. The world is watching, to see if the heavy favorite won't sleep at the wheel, or if the scrappy underdog can pull off the huge upset.

But the reason why I wrote this blog post wasn't to fulling understand the extent to which there's such a parallel between sport and politics.

It's to talk about how, at times, candidates will do anything to get a vote. Appearances on Monday Night Football, at NHL hockey games, at NASCAR events.

And even in sappy opening montages for the World Series.

Sure, baseball is as American as the Presidency itself. But, really Obama and McCain, did you guys have to lend your voices as narrators to FOX's really cheesy video before Game 1 of the World Series this year?

Maybe it's the true mixing of politics and sport. I see it as political pandering.