With
Presidents’ Day upon us, I found myself wondering: If some of our First Fans
could be brought back for a day (or season), which team’s colors might they
wear? For whom would they wave a pennant? Where would our country’s biggest
political winners direct their sporting gaze?
George Washington —
DALLAS
COWBOYS. Our nation’s foremost revolutionary general requires a star on his
helmet. And “America’s Team,” however misplaced the moniker may be, would be
Washington’s team of choice. (Redskin fans must be cringing at the thought.
President Washington, now, would cringe at a team named so crassly.) President
Washington commanded every room he entered, just as you might imagine Bob Lilly
dominating the locker room as Tom Landry’s franchise rose to greatness. And
leadership? No game was ever over, believed Cowboy fans young and old, as long
as Roger Staubach was at quarterback.
Thomas Jefferson —
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS. But of course. The man who penned the Declaration of
Independence would surely delight in the homage paid that special year by one of
the oldest and most successful teams in NBA history. And just as
Jefferson
must defer somewhat to Washington among our founding fathers (he served as the
first president’s Secretary of State remember), the Sixers for decades have
bowed to the Boston Celtics (more on them later). Were he able to see the
otherworldly talents of Philly stars like Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, and
Allen Iverson,
Jefferson
just might find himself wondering how equal all men are created.
Abraham Lincoln —
CHICAGO
CUBS. Before you scoff, consider the adversity, conflict, and crises suffered
here. And then consider our 16th president.
Lincoln’s
humble beginnings and gradual rise to political stardom (in Illinois, remember),
fall right in line with the long-held role of the adored Cubbies. Ernie Banks,
Ron Santo, Billy Williams, even the overhyped Ryne Sandberg . . . all players
more comfortable with their feet on the soil of Wrigley Field than in the bright
lights and critical eye of mass media. Lincoln understood patience. He
understood forgiveness. And yes, he understood loss. How much would you pay to
hear Honest Abe interviewed by Harry Caray?
Theodore Roosevelt — GREEN BAY PACKERS. If ever
an NFL player carried a metaphorical “big stick,” it has to be the Pack’s Hall
of Fame linebacker, Ray Nitschke. And when looking for a franchise that
epitomizes toughness, square-jawed determination, and the kind of grit that can
withstand a playing field often called “the frozen tundra,” the Green Bay
Packers are head and broad shoulders above the crowd. Whether it was busting
monopolies or digging the
Panama
Canal, there was a directness of purpose in the way Teddy conducted his
presidential affairs. And no football historian will ever call Vince Lombardi a
“flip-flopper.”
Franklin Roosevelt —
NEW YORK
YANKEES. One word: power. No other president has ever held it on such a global
and complete scale. No other American team has wielded it with such consistent
and dramatic might. There will never again be a president of the United States
elected to four terms in office, just as there will never again be a baseball
team with 26 World Series championships. The former governor of New York (during
Babe Ruth’s prime, of course) held our country together during some of the
hardest, saddest points in the nation’s history. And the
Bronx Bombers? Sure, they’re easy to
loathe, for all the greatness, all the Hall of Famers canonized beyond Yankee
Stadium’s outfield wall. But they are baseball, and baseball is
America.
John
Kennedy —
BOSTON
CELTICS. Maybe the easiest of these picks. Who else for a native son of Beantown,
a man who knew nothing else but winning, save for the family tragedies that too
often interrupted his meteoric rise to the presidency? (Think the Celtics
haven’t known tragedy along with their 16 championships? Look up the names Len
Bias and Reggie Lewis.) Kennedy’s first love in sports was football, and he’d
appreciate the recent success of
New England’s
Patriots. But he, perhaps as much as any president before or sense, appreciated
the greatness around him. He would see a parallel between himself and Red
Auerbach, the coach who handpicked Cousy, Russell, Havlicek, and Bird for his
hoops Camelot at Boston Garden. The best and the brightest, indeed.
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