Presidential Fantasy League: Week Twenty-Five Scores

For all the Marbles

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).

Just last week in our interview with election savant Nate Silver (you should be spending time on his site today) he told us that he didn't think endorsements played a large part in influencing people's votes. It's not the first time that kind of skepticism has been expressed. Still, there are certain things that we can't deny: First, that the Internet and other new media have had a definite effect on this election (and how elections will be conducted in the future). The number one watched election-related video on YouTube is will.i.am's "Yes, We Can," over 11.5 million views. That's more than any of the official campaign ads were watched (at least voluntarily), and the video was essentially a menagerie of endorsements.

The second thing is that the endorsements in this election are not just coming in the form of studio-produced sound bites, but in more interactive, face-to-face types of campaigning. And athletes have been front and center on this. In many cases their main focus is leading voter registration drives (those have a non-partisan feel, but usually don't occur without an official from one of the campaigns being a few feet away). This isn't the product-like endorsement that athletes have done in the past. These guys are mixing it up with voters (usually with a huge hip hop concert in the background). Voter registration and grass roots campaigning has become a "hip" thing to do and people from all walks of life—and all sports—are getting in on it. Leigh Torrence, Redskins CB, recently registered 16 of his teammates. Students at the University of Florida built a functioning Obama robot to stump around campus.

The Presidential Fantasy League's main goal was to track athlete endorsements. That said, we thought we'd give you the list of all the athletes, coaches, or owners who have either endorsed, donated money to, campaigned for or verbally expressed support for one of the candidates. This is everything we have noted since we started keeping track 25 weeks ago. While this list is probably not perfect, it's fairly close to a complete record of how athletes have been involved in this election. If you still haven't made up your mind about who to vote for today, and you don't trust yourself enough to make a gut decision, look at the lists and see which appeal to you more. It can be a vote by athlete proxy. But seriously, you haven't made your mind up yet? That's just nuts.

Here now, the list:

TEAM OBAMA: 63 total endorsements

29 from the NBA
17 from the NFL
9 from the MLB
1 from the NHL

-Lebron James (NBA)
-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (NBA)
-Charles Barkley (NBA)
-Michael Jordan (NBA)
-Dwyane Wade (NBA)
-Grant Hill (NBA)
-Baron Davis (NBA)
-Chris Paul (NBA)
-Channing Frye (NBA)
-Corey Brewer (NBA)
-Derek Fisher (NBA)
-Chris Duhon (NBA)
-Jerryd Bayless (NBA)
-Greg Oden (NBA)
-Ira Newble (NBA)
-Phil Jackson (NBA)
-Stephon Marbury (Knicks bench)
-Shane Battier (NBA)
-Etan Thomas (NBA)
-Adonal Foyle (NBA)
-Chauncey Billups (NBA)
-Kevin Johnson (NBA)
-Magic Johnson (NBA)
-Alonzo Mourning (NBA)
-Gary Payton (NBA)
-Sam Perkins (NBA)
-Derrick Rose (NBA)
-O.J. May0 (NBA)
-Joe Alexander (NBA)
-Emmitt Smith (NFL)
-Franco Harris (NFL)
-Jerome Bettis (NFL)
-Earnest Graham (NFL)
-Andre Goodman (NFL)
-Cato June (NFL)
-Alex Smith (NFL; Bucs not Niners)
-Greg Camarillo (NFL)
-Jerramy Stevens (NFL)
-Mike Tomlin (NFL
-Alge Crumpler (NFL)
-Steelers chairman Dan Rooney (NFL)
-Bears coach Lovie Smith (NFL)
-Warren Moon (NFL)
-Ronnie Lott (NFL)
-Brian Dawkins (NFL)
-Omar Gaither (NFL)
-Jimmy Rollins (MLB)
-Derek Lee (MLB)
-Dusty Baker (MLB)
-Fernando Perez (MLB)
-Carl Crawford (MLB)
-Cliff Floyd (MLB)
-Jonny Gomes (MLB)
-Edwin Jackson (MLB)
-David Price (MLB)
-Ben Eager (NHL)
-Junior Johnson (NASCAR)
-Diana Tausari (WNBA)
-Joey Dorsey (NBA)
-Shawn Johnson (Olympian)
-Daniel Negreanu (Poker and Canadian)
-Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Boxing)
-Don King (Boxing)

TOTAL SCORE THIS WEEK: 63 x 1 point= 63

TEAM McCAIN: 26 total endorsements

13 from the NFL
5 from the MLB
3 from the NBA

-Wayne Huizenga (NFL)
-Roger Goodell (NFL)
-Woody Johnson (NFL)
-Jerry Jones (NFL)
-Bill Bidwill (NFL)
-Brady Quinn (NFL)
-Joe Thomas (NFL)
-Norv Turner (NFL)
-Joe Gibbs (NASCAR/NFL)
-Mike Alstott (NFL)
-Anthony Fasano (NFL)
-Luke McCown (NFL)
-Jay Feely (NFL)
-Jeff Suppan (MLB)
-Louis Gonzales (MLB)
-Curt Schilling (MLB)
-Andrew Miller (MLB)
-Sam Zell (MLB; gave to both candidates, but much more to McCain)
-Spencer Hawes (NBA)
-Jerry Colangelo (NBA)
-Bill Davidson (NBA, WNBA, NHL)
-Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)
-Arnold Schwarzenegger (ex-weightlifter and balanced budgeter extraordinaire)
-Lute Olson (NCCA)
-Chuck Liddell (MMA)
-Brian Clay (OLYMP)

TOTAL SCORE THIS WEEK: 26 X 1 point= 26

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FINAL SCORES AFTER WEEK TWENTY-FIVE:
1. Team Obama: 978
2. Team McCain: 786

As you can see Obama dominated. Not just in his final PFL score but in sheer numbers of supporters. The election could still go either way, but it will always go down as a race that changed how things were done. And, in this case, who helped get it done.

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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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