Presidential Athletics

I'm tired of hearing about the elections but I also know we will be hearing about it for quite some time. I love my America and want what's best for her and I realize the elections are important but I'll be glad to when I can turn on the TV, read a newspaper and listen to the radio without having to hear about the current presidential election.

Since this is a sports blog and not a political blog, I was thinking recently about something. If someone from the sports world was to lead this country, who would I want? Who has the knowledge and integrity? That thought immediately reminded me of something else I've read before.

In his book, Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot, Mike Greenberg talks about what NFL head coaches would be like as the Commander-in Chief. He says "I think Mike Ditka could kick the ass of any head of state. I think Bill Parcells would have made Saddam Hussein run wind sprints. I think Tom Landry probably should have been president of the United States.

In fact, I think football coaches have all the qualities it takes to run a nation: leadership, toughness, intelligence, and the ability to delegate. Every head coach even has his own cabinet: Secretary of Special Teams, Chief Justice of the Offensive Line, Majority Leader of the Defense. Imagine how differently Vietnam might have turned out if Vince Lombardi had been running the show instead of Lyndon Johnson; he would have run that toss-counter-sweep right up the Communists' asses. Let's face it: The sixties were a good deal kinder to Lombardi than they were to LBJ. For that matter, the seventies were better to Chuck Noll than they were to Jimmy Carter. In the eighties, Bill Walsh vs. Ronald Reagan was too close to call. I'll give Clinton the nineties over Jimmy Johnson but not in a runaway."

Greeny goes on to talk about how you respected the greatest people to ever coach the game, and if you didn't, you could leave. Today, there are only a handful of coaches that this applies to. If you want to read more of the book, go out and buy it. It's a good one.

Anyway, sports figures who could be president? Bill Belichick wouldn't deliver the best State of the Union Address and he would be under constant scrutiny after the Spygate incident. None of the above coaches are coaching any more and the closest to them that we have might just be Tony Dungy.

Until the summer, Packer nation would have been ready to elect Brett Favre as the new president, but he got a job in New York. We've seen several athletes go into politics after a pro career but none has gone all the way to the Oval Office.

My first vote would be to Tom Landry if he were still with us. Unfortunately though he's not so therefore, why not go to his right hand man? Roger "the Dodger" Staubach might even still have what it takes. I'll gladly vote for David Robinson, Nolan Ryan or Cal Ripken any day. Yeah I know, we just had an election so it's too soon but hey, if Staubach does run, I'll gladly vote for No. 12 in 20012.