Apparently Rick Reilly offered at least Obama and McCain a chance to be his fantasy partner for a week (he said ‘each candidate’ but I’m not sure if he was counting any third parties or not. C’mon Reilly, clarity in writing!*)
Only Obama agreed, and they played, and then Reilly wrote a column about it. As far as Life of Reilly goes, it wasn’t superb, but it was good as always.*
Why did McCain not agree? Does he just not have a good grasp of sports, or does he think he doesn’t have enough time? Either way, he made the wrong call, big time.
Does he know how many of his potential voters’ religions revolve around sports? These people worship on Sundays at the shrine of NASCAR and baseball, with their Bibles being ESPN Mag and SI. So to pass up an opportunity to have your name dropped in a weekly sermon by one of the highest priests in the land . . . well, that’s just crazy.
McCain did get lauded over Obama by Roger Ebert in a column about the candidates and their movie choices, but that barely holds a candle to Obama’s coup of having an entire page devoted to his sports prowess. How many people in the world have seen a Marlon Brando movie? Now, how many people play, watch or or have a kid involved in football every week?**
I’m not sure why anyone would pass on a chance to spend time with Rick Reilly or boost his or her Public Relations. Personally, I would settle for just the former; both together is almost too good to be true. But McCain did pass, proving that Obama is a much better at not only picking a QB, but projecting himself to every facet of the public.
And that’s what elections in this country are coming to.
* He can be forgiven for being distracted by white tulle and cake.
** Of course the fact that the former number is so much smaller than the latter is sad, but that doesn’t make it less true.
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