America's Football Player Presidents

I would like to state for the record that I have never been mistreated by a football player. In fact, I even played the game myself a few times. It didn't appeal to me. My paternal grandmother fell in love with my paternal grandfather while watching him play football in college, so there's that too. 

For some reason, every president since Nixon has either been a football player or posed as one.

The first was Gerald Ford, who played football in college.

I couldn't find a picture of Jimmy Carter playing football, but like most recent presidents, he threw out the ceremonial baseball pitch. He may have been an ex-president when the photo below was taken.

On to Reagan, who was a football player in a movies and real life.

 

Bush the Elder also posed with a prolate spheroid.

Bill Clinton had many football photo ops, though some did not paint him in the best light.

Bush Junior did not play football in college, but he was captain of the pep squad and dressed in drag as a cheerleader. He is fourth from the left in the photo below. 

The NYT article about it is amusing:

***

ANDOVER, Mass. -- Perhaps there have been other presidential candidates who have dressed in drag, flaunting their legs from beneath a (fairly short) white skirt. But George W. Bush is probably the only one who has done it in front of a camera.

A photograph showing George and friends wearing wigs and employing falsies to fill out their sweaters appears in a yellowed copy of the school newspaper of Phillips Academy here in Andover, near Boston. It was 1963, and George, then a high school senior and head cheerleader, was leading a skit intended to mock rival schools.

***

Obama did not play football in high school or college, but that did not stop him from posing as one. Over and over and over. 

Trump, on the other, rarely posed with a football. I consider that a point in his favor. The look of mild disdain on his face has a certain je ne sais quoi. 

And last, we have Biden, who by all accounts was an all-star football player in college.

Much like the US flag pin, it now seems mandatory for the president to pose with a football. Why is that? Seems like shameless pandering to me. 

Given the various catastrophes the US has been through since 1945, I'd prefer a president who was more interested in history or philosophy as a hobby. Is there ever going to be a president who will pose with a copy of The Federalist Papers? I'm not holding my breath. 

None of the great presidents, including all the ones on Mt Rushmore, were football players. Teddy Roosevelt threatened to ban the game if they couldn't reduce the injury rate. After that, all the pads and helmets became standard.  

Like the song says, it seems that high school really does never end.