Presidential Election As A Sporting Event

One of the most fascinating sporting events only takes place once every four years. No, it’s not the Summer Olympics, it’s actually the Presidential Election.

I realized last night while watching the Presidential Election over the span of seven different networks that the election is broadcast much-like a sporting event.

You have two candidates, who serve as the athletes in this situation, battling each other for months culminating in this one night for 270 Electoral College votes, which effectively serves as the score. As state polls close the electoral votes go up and down for the two candidates and make it look as if one candidate is leading the election, or game in my sports analogy.

At one point last night Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney had a pretty sizable lead on President Barack Obama, but later President Obama passed him and ended up winning in a landslide. This on CNN or MSNBC or Fox News is the equivalent of the Boston Celtics leading the Chicago Bulls by 20 in the first half then having the Bulls comeback to tie the game and later win by 20.

The sport of the election as broadcast on television makes it more interesting to watch and the graphics on some of the networks like CNN add to the sport of the whole thing.

Another aspect of the election that makes it seem and feel like a sporting event is the way we root for the candidates like we do our favorite athletes and teams and the way we bicker and argue about them and their politics like they are our favorite athletes and teams. I feel the same way debating conservatism versus liberalism as I do when I’m debating whether or not Babe Ruth is a greater baseball player than Hank Aaron.

The reason why is that both sports and politics bring out the most passion in people and when people are passionate about something they are going to get competitive about it.

Last night’s Presidential Election was actually one of the most competitive and interesting sporting events I’ve seen all year long. It’s almost a shame we’ll have to wait four more years for another one, but like in any sport, the rules are the rules.