Monday , March 18 2024

Administration REALLY Rooting for Redskins on Sunday

Since the Redskins became the “Redskins” in 1933, the result of the team’s final home game before the presidential election has correctly predicted the White House winner: if the Skins win, the incumbent wins; if they lose, the incumbent loses:

    “It’s kind of amazing,” coach Joe Gibbs said. “You wouldn’t think something like that would line up that many times.”

    Gibbs said the statistic doesn’t really mean anything, but he can at least pretend that it does — because he’s solidly in the Bush camp.

    “Hopefully we’ll have a lot of people pulling for us,” said Gibbs, who voted when he traveled to his North Carolina home over the weekend. It was the Redskins bye week.

    Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards has been quoted as saying he’s rooting for the Green Bay Packers, the Redskins’ opponent on Sunday. While no doubt thankful for the endorsement, Green Bay coach Mike Sherman is concerned about more rudimentary matters, such as the health of quarterback Brett Favre.

    “It’s going to take a lot more than Packers fans to determine the outcome of an election,” Sherman said.

    ….Until recently, the Redskins had been the subject of another political quirk. For 52 years — from 1946 to 1998 — they failed to make the playoffs under a Democratic administration. That one went by the wayside when the team won the NFC East in 1999, when Bill Clinton was president.

    Some players are puzzled by all the talk of the election — and how the team’s success seems coincidentally tied to it.

    “I’m not much into politics,” linebacker Marcus Washington said. “All I know is this is going to be a tough week for us. Brett Favre’s going to be tough. Ahman Green’s tough. Those are two tough candidates right there.” [SI.com]

Ah, priorities.

The SF Chronicle has more strange predictors:

    — Halloween masks: Sales figures for rubber masks of the candidates have foretold the winner of every election since 1980, according to costume sellers. In other words, the bigger freak usually wins.

    BuyCostumes.com, which has been keeping tabs on this year’s showdown, reports that boneheaded President Bush is outselling big-headed Sen. John Kerry 53 to 47 percent, although Kerry has been steadily closing the gap.

    — Political markets: When in doubt, follow the money. A direct barometer of the candidates’ prospects can be found on the Iowa Electronic Markets, where traders buy and sell political futures. The market has correctly predicted the winner in every election since 1988. Investors are currently slightly bullish on Bush, giving him about a 54 percent chance of winning.

    — The kids’ vote: Since 1956, the Weekly Reader has polled students in grades 1 through 12 on their presidential preference. As the results have proven, you can’t fool children. They have correctly chosen the winner in each of the last 12 elections. [the little nippers went with Bush]

So it’s Bush then – do we still have to hold the election?

About Eric Olsen

Career media professional and serial entrepreneur Eric Olsen flung himself into the paranormal world in 2012, creating the America's Most Haunted brand and co-authoring the award-winning America's Most Haunted book, published by Berkley/Penguin in Sept, 2014. Olsen is co-host of the nationally syndicated broadcast and Internet radio talk show After Hours AM; his entertaining and informative America's Most Haunted website and social media outlets are must-reads: Twitter@amhaunted, Facebook.com/amhaunted, Pinterest America's Most Haunted. Olsen is also guitarist/singer for popular and wildly eclectic Cleveland cover band The Props.

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