By A.J. Hayes
Turn on cable television or AM radio any afternoon and you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the sports and political news programming. Whether it’s ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption or Fox’s Hannity and Colmes, it seems as if everyone is yelling with the fervor and conviction of a roided-up high school P.E. teacher.
Some political shows (Hardball) have sports inspired names and another (Countdown) is hosted by Keith Olbermann, who cut his broadcasting teeth inventing new catch phrases to describe home runs and field goals.
So considering that politics and sports are both populated by the same types of egomaniacs, we’ve decided to wed the three top remaining Presidential candidates with the Bay Area sports figures that best fits their persona.
McCain behind the straight talk?
John McCain and Don Nelson. Both the Warriors head coach and leading Republican nominee have seen great victories in their day, and have both have suffered their share of humility in their given professions. Though Nelson is one of the NBA’s all-time winning coaches, he’s never captured a NBA title and each coaching stop he’s has made has ended ignominiously, with invariably lawsuits flying after his departure.
Like Nelson, whose run and gun style flies in the face of textbook-style basketball, McCain does not pay strict adherence to the conservative GOP template and is hated in some corners of the party. Despite serving a good chunk of his prime rotting away in a POW camp, McCain has constantly be belittle by neo-cons like George W. Bush, who spent the Vietnam War making beer runs. And mustn’t that burn his beans.
Both men also display a tendency to change their minds. Nelson recently embraced former Warriors nemesis Chris Webber’s return to Oakland, figuring it improves his chance of winning a championship.
McCain has recently reversed his long standing vehement opposition to state-sponsored torture in order to improve his chance at winning the Presidency.
Hilary Clinton and Al Davis. Like the Oakland Raiders “Just Win, Baby” honcho, Clinton has a ferociousness that knows no limits. Both share a no-holds-barred mentality when it comes to winning. For Davis, it’s traditionally been bringing in the scourge of the NFL, people who specialize in late hits. With Clinton it’s all about hit-piece ads and shifting the focus. Like Davis (what’s that accent anyway?) who took the Raiders to L.A. for 15 odd seasons, Hil has a bit of carpet-bagger too. She started in the mid-west, went south, did the D.C. thing and then suddenly popped up in New York. Both Davis and Clinton also favor uniformity in their wardrobes, Al in his black or white Raiders sweat suit, Clinton in her bright red and canary yellow pantsuits.
Barack Obama and Bill Walsh. Like the late Walsh, Obama has gone from obscurity to being heralded as an innovative thinker in a brief period of time. When Walsh entered the NFL as a head coach, each team had a preexisting offensive mindset handed down from coach to coach, focusing on the long passing game and conservative running plays. Walsh’s innovations with the “west coast” offensive featuring the short passing game soon revolutionized the game. Similarly Obama’s fresh ideas and outlook on unifying the country has rubbed against the grain, but is now clearly catching on. Like Walsh, who took the 49ers from last place to a Super Bowl championship in one season, Obama, if elected, will have to lead the county out of an eight year losing streak.
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Comments (1)
does the sfby keep covers available on the website?
if not, why not?
Posted by Peter | February 22, 2008 08:14 AM