Regardless of your political affiliation, we will have a new president in the White House in a matter of months. Like it or not, there are likely going to be changes in national policy regarding health care, the economy, education, national security and a whole host of other areas.
To fend off the political enthusiasts out there, let me make this very clear: I do not align myself with any particular party. I never endorsed one candidate over another and have done my best to conceal my disdain or my approval of the election results. I keep my political standings to myself, and I have not told anyone whom I voted for - not my parents, not my roommates, not my best friends. That said, I am intrigued, for better or for worse, by the potential ramifications of the recent election on the sporting world.
To begin with, it is widely known that President-elect Obama is an avid White Sox fan, which could mean that the man in the land's highest office may meet the steroid scandals that have plagued Major League Baseball with a more watchful eye. After all, he was among the first people waiting to congratulate the 2005 World Series champion White Sox after they got off the field. Obama is serious about his sports, and would therefore be a potentially potent activist in keeping sports clean.
What might be less widely known to sports fans is that his brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is the head basketball coach at Oregon State. Generally, politics and basketball do not play on the same court, but in his recruiting efforts thus far in the fall, Robinson has said that families of recruits have shown interest in his connection to the Democratic President-elect. In a conference that holds some of the great perennial collegiate basketball powers like UCLA, USC and Arizona, any recruiting edge he can gain from the Obama campaign would likely be welcome for Robinson, who is in his first year at Oregon State and is trying to turn around a program that finished last season 0-18 in the Pac-10 and 6-25 overall.
For those of you who watched Monday Night Football"" on Nov 3, you might have caught another interesting morsel that was as hot a topic in the sporting world as the election was in the rest of the world: Obama's take on the college football postseason. The President-elect put the BCS under fire when he called for a collegiate football playoff on national television. To be frank, this matter is beyond the realm of Obama's control, and he surely knows that he is in no position to change the system. But it just so happens that one day after the presidential election, USC head coach Pete Carroll made waves in the sporting nation when he once again spilled his thoughts on the BCS, saying, ""I think it stinks."" Coincidently, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno expressed his disdain last week as well, asking reporters, ""Is it the BCS or the BSC?""
Either way, Obama has added fuel to the fire for change, and may continue to do so if given the chance.
Most importantly to the sporting world, however, will be Obama's impact on the United States' bid for the 2016 Olympics. As Chicago 2016 bid chief Patrick Ryan noted last week, Obama's victory speech in Millennium Park was ""a global opportunity to show the city's beautiful skyline, its lake and its parks."" Regardless of how it was received here in the states, it cannot be denied that Obama's overseas trip to Europe this past summer increased his familiarity and popularity on the international scene, which is critical considering that heads of state have played major roles in the bidding process in years past. British prime minister Tony Blair's attendance at the International Olympic Committee's 2005 session has been widely regarded as the reason Great Britain won the bid for host of the 2012 Summer Games - an appearance by Obama next year will likely yield similar results.
Now, whether the President-elect's stances, connections and potential influences play out is yet to be determined. Can we base the success of Beaver basketball on that of Obama's success in the voting booths? Maybe. But only time will tell if the election of a new president will have as great of an impact on sports as it does on our country's future.
Wish you'd cast your presidential vote for Bernie Brewer? Tell Andy at avansistine@wisc.edu.
