betED.com -- The View from the Couch

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Jan 20th, 2008 - The Sports Fan in Chief

As the world stood rapt watching Barack Obama raise his hand, and fumble his way through the oath of office to become the 44th President of the United States (nice job Chief Justice Roberts!), the folks in the sports franchise owner suites must have stood and cheered as well. Finally, someone is in the Oval office that is just like the folks who fills their seats ? a sports fan.

Two wars, Gaza, a potential depression, global warming and America?s image in the dumper may be what is facing the new Commander in Chief, but according to Politico, something that he will never miss is SportsCenter.

Not sure if that?s a good thing or not quite frankly, but it?s certainly different.

The last few Presidents put on a nice show to demonstrate to Joe Six-Pack that there were just regular guys. Nixon would talk college football. Ford, who was drafted into the NFL out of college, played a bunch of golf. Carter, well he was just too cerebral to even care. Reagan was a lifeguard as a kid and talked about the 77 lives he saved ? a lot. Bush Senior was the captain of the Yale baseball team and threw out a record number of first pitches on opening day.

Clinton would go to football games at the drop of a hat, but that was mostly for the BBQ. He did manage to make it to one Capitols game - but gave the single most clueless interview of his Presidency on national TV demonstrating his complete lack of knowledge about the game of hockey. Fortunately, it was the NHL so no one was watching.

Then there was Chimpy McFlightsuit. Mr. Baseball was the former owner of the Texas Rangers so he had the bonifides you?d think. Except his tenure as owner was highlighted by trading Sammy Sosa to the Cubs ? a goofy decision that many Americans should have paid far more attention to when they were in the voting booth a few year later. It was clear that, as bad as he was at baseball, W should have stuck to it. His most famous foray into football resulted in him almost choking to death on a pretzel.

Now there is this guy, Barack Hussein Obama: Basketball player, hardcore White Sox fan, NCAA Bracketologist and BCS meddler.

Where Nixon put in a bowling alley (who else?) and Bush Jr. spent tons (and tons and more tons) of time on his mountain bike, Obama will be playing pickup basketball games somewhere in the Whitehouse. A regular part of his schedule during the campaign, he even managed to shoot hoops with the North Carolina Tar Heels and hit a three from deep in a gym in Afghanistan.

Athletes love him. He?s got nearly an 80% approval rating with everyone else. Even Tiger Woods, the most apolitical sports figure perhaps ever talked at the Lincoln Memorial in his honor this past Sunday.

So - now that this sports fan is the boss, will he be willing to spend some of that sporting political capital?

Listening to him, it sure looks like it. At a press conference a few weeks ago he was talking about the tensions in Gaza, the Wall Street crash and having his cabinet confirmed before inauguration day ? all big stuff.

However, he didn?t leave the stage before voluntarily voicing his opinion on how Florida?s win over Oklahoma in the national championship confirmed his belief that there needed to be a playoff system in college football.

With the economy the way it is ? and with 2009 shaping up to be the scariest perhaps ever for the major sports ? at least those team owners know they have a friend in a high place.

Hey, if bankers can ask for a bailout, why not the NHL?

Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
 
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