PRESIDENTIAL FANTASY LEAGUE: WEEK TWO SCORES!

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"He's a zone buster."

The Pennsylvania primaries are looming over today like a vulture and both the Democratic candidates are busy trying to gather some last minute momentum. We've seen Jerome Bettis on Barack's campaign bus for a couple of weeks now, but still nothing for Hillary from supporter Mario Lemieux. McCain meanwhile is laying low — hoping Bill Bidwell doesn't somehow squander the Arizona Cardinals' 16th pick before the draft. Take a look at the week in the Presidential Fantasy League.

TEAM OBAMA

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: + 20
"His game is street like. He likes to create one-on-one. He had a nice little jump shot from 15 to 18 feet in the corner. Also, he's a zone buster."
-Barack's High School Basketball Coach on Obama's basketball game on Real Sports this week.

BLEMISH OF THE WEEK: -10
Prior to the bout this Saturday in Vegas a Conde Naste Portfolio.com quoted Bernard Hopkins as saying, "I think Obama would be killed. America is not ready for an African American in the White House," something he has repeated several times before. Even the loss by Bernard to Calzaghe doesn't cover up the negativity of that press.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: +20
Charles Barkley was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno clarifying his political views: "I told people I was rich like a Republican, and then they started thinking I'm a republican. They get confused … I'm endorsing Barack."

OTHER PLAYS: +10
Obama's campaign announced on Monday that Marion High School junior Blake Hancock and Indiana University-Kokomo freshman Kory McKay have been chosen to play in a three-on-three game with Obama. They were picked from a group that met a requirement of signing people up people to vote and will get to play with another player that Obama will announce later. All fingers are crossed for MJ and not Calbert Cheaney.

TEAM McCAIN

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: +20
Team McCain got an unexpected bump from Arnold Schwarzenegger this week as he gave an on-air endorsement on Fox News (including a brief cameo from Sly Stallone). Schwarzenegger insisted that he thought McCain could win California.

BLEMISH OF THE WEEK: -5
A recent poll published by Harris Interactive says that 50 percent of American's don't believe that celebrities make a positive difference on causes they promote. While athletes partially fall under the wing of "celebrities," none does like Sylvester Stallone.

PFL SUBTEXT OF THE WEEK: -5
By arguing that there was no territorial rule to prevent the Pottsville Marroons from playing Nortre Dame on Dec. 12th, 1925, Mag writer and Breaker Boys author David Fleming argued successfully on Friday night that the Pottsville Marroons deserve the 1925 title. By a debate score of 254-218 he defeated Pro Football Hall of Fame's Vice-president of communications. Subtext? It's a blow for PFLer and Cardinals owner (who now owns the title) Bill Bidwell who has been trying to block this recognition for years. At least the Cardinals have he upcoming NFL season to look forward to. Oh, wait.

OTHER PLAYS: +10
Jerry Colangelo already getting props for his work with the USA Basketball Team in "Colangelo returns pride to USA Basketball", in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/20/08.

TEAM HILLARY

QUOTES OF THE WEEK: -10
Hillary's campaign racked up the sports analogies this week. Fortunately none of them were very positive.

"Speaking of Montreal: The Canadiens are kind of the Hillary Clinton in my Barack Obama-support for Penguins-Capitals; they're closing fast to make a race of it."
-Rob Rossi, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 4/21/08

"The Clinton campaign has fired managers faster than George Steinbrenner."
-David Glen Cox, OpEdNews.com, 4/20/08

SIGN OF IMPENDING CAMPAIGN DOOM: -10
"Hillary Clinton has been ill-served by her campaign … I interviewed Billie Jean King recently and she said [in regards to Clinton's campaign]: 'This is the way its been going my whole life. A woman does the work, does everything right, toils in the vineyards, and then some cute guy comes along and gets the job."
-Author, TV correspondent, and journalist Cokie Roberts on The Charlie Rose Show, 4/15/08

BLUNDER OF THE WEEK: -10
Not convincing Mario Lemieux to be a more vocal supporter of her camapaign. He's been a prominent member of the Pittsburgh community for over twenty years and the Penguins are in the playoffs. Still he's been non-existent on her campaign trail while Obama has both Jerome Bettis and Franco Harris tagging along.

PFL SUBTEXT OF THE WEEK: -10
In all the hullabaloo about the Sonics ownership group attempting to relocate the team with the clandestine support of the NBA exec their stands one last obstacle in Stan Bennett and David Stern's way (besides Jeff Ament): Washington Governor Christine Gregoire who recently made a call to the commish to probe the moving of the team. The important PFL subtext in this story? Gregoire is a precious superdelegate and has made a formal endorsement for Obama.

SCORES AFTER WEEK TWO
1. Team Barack: 195
2. Team McCain: 110
3. Team Hillary: 45

SCORES AFTER WEEK ONE
1. Team Barack: 155
2. Team McCain: 90
3. Team Hillary: 85

Got an issue with the way we're sizing up the candidates? Something we missed? Got an idea for the rules? Send us your thoughts: editor.espnmag@gmail.com

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