PRESIDENTIAL FANTASY LEAGUE: WEEK NINETEEN SCORES

by Max Klinger

Where the avenues of sports and politics meet, there is a mailbox where we deposit a weekly letter; a mailbox called the Presidential Fantasy League (see every PFL ever right here).

The conventions are finally over. Phew, so that happened. This week, the GOP had their moment in prime time. Now, the presidential race and the football season are starting to heat up, and as Joe Gibbs can attest, the political and football game-plans aren't really that different. But how well do you know sports and politics? ( These guys know it well.) Can you guess which pro sports team is most aligned with McCain? How about Obama? (Hint: Neither is the Canucks.) Click through to see which teams have donated the most to both candidates.

If you look at the sum of donations made by a team's players and executives, the San Diego Chargers have given McCain more than any other team or sports organization (four of his top five donations were from NFL teams). For Obama, it's the office of the National Basketball Association (his top five includes the NFL's office, the Chicago Cubs—whose fans he last week good naturedly slammed — and the Killerspin Table Tennis company).

(From a recent ESPN analysis of the Center for Responsive Politics donation data:)

John McCain:
San Diego Chargers, NFL: $23,500
Genesco Sports Marketing: $19,650
Dallas Cowboys, NFL: $18,400
Houston Texans, NFL: $18,400
Arizona Cardinals, NFL: $11,500
New York Yankees, MLB: $11,500
Phoenix Suns, NBA: $9,400
San Francisco Giants, MLB: $9,200
Minnesota Vikings, NFL: $9,000
Phoenix Coyotes, NHL: $8,900

Barack Obama:
National Basketball Assn., NBA: $24,360
Killerspin, Table tennis: $13,800
Concession Management Services Inc.: $10,200
Chicago Cubs, MLB: $9,200
National Football League, NFL: $8,750
Youngstown SteelHounds, CHL: $7,100
Miami Heat, NBA: $6,900
MLB commissioner's office, MLB: $5,800
Wasserman Media Group, Sports mgmt: $5,350
Philadelphia Eagles, NFL: $5,300

On to the PFL!

TEAM McCAIN: "Drill Baby Drill" —A sign (and later a chant) at the RNC.

TOTAL DONATIONS SO FAR: +20
The numbers don’t lie. Though Obama's athlete endorsements have been higher in visibility, in terms of sheer giving, pro sports-types have pushed more money to McCain. According to of the Center for Responsive Politics data, of the $445,334 given to the two candidates by sports pros and executives, 55.8 % went to McCain and 44.2% went to Obama. (And that's even with surging Democratic donations. Last election, pros gave $357,948 to Bush and only $43,000 to Kerry.)

CONVENTION SIGHTING OF THE WEEK: +30
Joe Gibbs fills in at the podium. Brian Clay has a couple lines of his own. And there's a big guy in a Schilling jersey.

CONVENTION NO-SHOW OF THE WEEK: -10
Arnold wasn't there, but STOP WHINING, he had a good excuse: a teetering budget to balance in California.

SWAN SONG OF THE WEEK: +10
They played "Barracuda" by Heart to close out the RNC last night. Get it—Sarah Barracuda. (Apparently Heart wasn't so happy about it.)

SOMEWHAT MEANINGLESS DEMOGRAPHIC OF THE WEEK: +10
Sarah Palin = “Hockey Mom”

VIP TREATMENT OF THE WEEK: +10
Fundraiser/donor of the year Woody Johnson gets his spotlight at the convention—he was the only donor to get his own skybox with his name on the outside.

*Had to include this because the title of this post is incredible: "Levis, Van Halen, and Log Cabins."

TOTAL SCORE THIS WEEK: +70

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TEAM OBAMA:"I've been called worse on a basketball court." —B.O.

Not much was happening in the Obama camp this week. Just one thing we didn't realize until now:

SIGHTING OF THE DNC: +10
Shawn Johnson, still two years away from being able to vote, was in attendance.

TOTAL SCORE THIS WEEK: +10

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SCORES AFTER WEEK NINETEEN
1. Team Obama: 715
2. Team McCain: 700

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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