Athletes In Politics

Every now and then, someone from the world of sports decides his experience will translate to the political arena. Here’s how that has worked out so far:

• Richard Petty: Lost his bid to be North Carolina’s secretary of state, but not before his campaign skidded out of control and exploded, killing two other candidates
• Gerald Ford: Sort of fell into both starting at linebacker for Michigan and becoming the president of the United States
• Jim Bunning: Deceptively mediocre pitching paved way for conspicuously bad senatoring
• Ichiro Suzuki: Has quietly been doing a really solid job as governor of Washington for the past 10 years
• Jack Kemp: With the vice presidency all but secured, the former Buffalo Bill made the mistake of bringing Scott Norwood on to help his campaign in the final days
• Jesse Ventura: Although many would argue he hardly qualifies as a real athlete, many would also argue he hardly qualifies as a real politician
• Ronald Reagan: His many detractors maintain that history has been too generous to his legacy as a football player at Eureka fucking College