Race For The White House: The Candidates & Sports
From Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders
to John Kasich, the 2016 candidates for President of the United States all have
connections to sports.
With the Iowa Caucuses a mere week away,
Elite Sports NY decided to look at each and every Presidential candidate’s
involvement in the world of sports. You wouldn’t believe it, but many of the
fifteen candidates for POTUS played sports during their childhood, have fantasy
football teams, and have either owned or placed wagers on sports.
Hillary Clinton
Sports may have paved the way for Clinton to
be Secretary of State, Caitlin Kelly of Glamour suggested in 2012. “Sports
helped me to learn how to be part of a team,” Clinton said. “It also helped me
learn how to lose. You can’t win every time you go out, and you have to figure
out what you’re made of after you do lose and whether you’re ready to get up
and keep going.”
Bernie Sanders
Much of Sanders’ childhood surrounded the
Brooklyn Dodgers, Les Carpenter of The Guardian reported:“Sanders had just turned 16 and friends say he was devastated
after Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley announced the transfer. The Dodgers had
been an essential part of his childhood in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn
where he could walk to their ballpark, Ebbets Field, and buy a ticket for 60
cents. Even today he can name the Dodgers 1950s infield of Roy Campanella, Gil
Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Billy Cox. Then they were gone,
whisked away to California.”
Martin O’Malley
Before Super Bowl XXXV between the New York
Giants and Baltimore Ravens, O’Malley and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani
made a friendly wager about the game and even trash talked about it.
Donald Trump
Trump, the current frontrunner in the GOP
race, is credited by many to have ruined, among other things, the United States
Football League. ESPN had a 30 for 30 film that explored Trump’s role in the
demise of the “No-Fun League’s” alternative.
Ted Cruz
Keith Olbermann once dubbed Cruz as the
“worst person in the sports world,” after the politician joked that “Tom
Brady was framed and I have it on good authority that Hillary Clinton did
it….Why do you think she deleted her emails?”
Marco Rubio
‘Nuff said?
Ben Carson
Not much, but this endorsement: A little pre-debate prep
with former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ vitorbelfort and team. Great sparring
partner!
Jeb Bush
During a Republican debate in late October,
Bush spoke excitedly about his fantasy football team, telling the audience how
his team is 7-0 thanks to contributions from guys such as Rob Gronkowski and
Ryan Tannehill.“I’m doing great, but we’re not gambling,” Bush said about the
issue (or lack of, for that matter) of fantasy football.His brother, former
President George Bush, was the owner of the Texas Rangers from 1989-94.
Chris Christie
Christie’s been spotted playing charity
softball in the past, while he argued that fantasy
football isn’t an issue:“Are we really talking about getting the federal
government involved in fantasy football? Wait a second. We have $19 trillion in
debt. We have people out of work, we have ISIS and Al Qaeda attacking us and
we’re talking about fantasy football? Can we stop? Can we stop? How about this?
How about we get the government to do what they’re supposed to be doing? Secure
our borders, protect our people and support American values and American
families. Enough on fantasy football. Let people play, who cares?”
Mike Huckabee
Huckabee (yes, he’s still in the race), is a
big rodeo fan.“There’s nothing like it,” Huckabee said. “Having grown up in Arkansas and seeing rodeos, I thought I
had seen a rodeo until I came to the NFR. Then you realize this is comparing
the World Series to Little League. It’s extraordinary cowboys and cowgirls who
are at the top of their profession.”
Courtesy -http://elitesportsny.com
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