The Real America's Team
Welcome back to Sport Center’s series on sports urban legends. For part four of our series, we are going to look at the impact of the National Football League’s Washington Redskins on the outcome of the presidential elections. Until this year, every time the Redskins played a home game before “Super Tuesday,” the outcome of their game had predicted the winner of the election. If the Redskins won, the incumbent won; if they lost, the incumbent lost. George Bush’s victory in the election all but did this urban legend in, but we found an interesting twist in this year’s game from someone who claims to have formerly been involved with the Kerry campaign. This anonymous person claims that he was involved in the campaign and was fired for going against others in an attempted fixing of the game. In a Sports Center exclusive, here is what he had to say.
“I was just a young guy trying to get into politics. Up until earlier this year, I had been a Democrat for all of my life. My parents were both Democrats, as well as both sets of my grandparents. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be in politics. I used to play politics instead of games and sports like the other boys my age. I have been made fun of all of my life growing up for that. Then I went off to college and got involved with the Young Democrats. I really felt good about myself in this period of my life.”
“As you might have guessed, I majored in political science. While in college, I worked as a volunteer with Democrats running in the local area. I guess I must have done something right, because after I graduated, I was asked to work with the Democratic Party in the campaign of John Kerry. When I interviewed for the position, I was awestruck. There was Senator Kerry, in the same room as I was, and he wanted to meet me! What more could I dream of?”
“For the next year or so, I worked my tail off for Mr. Kerry and his campaign. I just knew we were going to win. At lunch one day before the start of the NFL season, I was eating with some of my coworkers when we started talking about the Washington Redskins. As I have said earlier, I was no sports fan, but I did know about how the outcome of the Redskins' home game before the election usually predicted the winner. As the conversation proceeded, one of my coworkers claimed that he had connections in the NFL with the head of the officials, and said that he could see if we could have a more active part in the outcome of the game. I was not sure what he meant at first, but I soon understood. He was suggesting that we have the game fixed so that the Redskins would lose and all but guarantee a victory. I adamantly disagreed from the beginning when I found out he was serious.”
“Months went by and next thing you know, the game came up again. This time the conversation was about how much it would take to make sure the Packers won. I was beside myself. Would they really pay off referees to throw a game over such a trivial legend? I felt like we had run a strong campaign and did not need this. And also, what would happen when this is found out? We would all be in trouble. I said that I wanted no part in the plan, to which I received the response of ‘You’re fired then’ from my boss. And I was really sent packing. I could not believe it. I felt so betrayed.”
“The day of the game came, and there I sat, unemployed, about to watch the Redskins game just to see if my former coworkers really did what they said they would do. Sure enough, the Redskins score to take the lead, but the touchdown is called back on what the announcers described as a ‘phantom holding call.’ The next play, the Redskins throw an interception and the Packers score a few players later after intercepting the ball and go on to win 28-14. I remember thinking at that moment that I would not vote for Kerry after this, and that I hoped that he lost, although the incumbent had never won after a Redskins home loss since 1936. Tuesday came and I went and voted for Bush. Remember earlier how I said that I WAS a Democrat? I decided after being fired that I would never vote for a Democrat again. I stayed up all night watching the election coverage. Needless to say, I was overjoyed Wednesday morning when Kerry called to concede. I never thought in all of my life that I would be happy for a Republican winning, but here I was. My advice to all the young people out there is to stick to what you believe, no matter what the cost.”
We learned shortly after this interview that our anonymous man has received a job as a campaign organizer for the Republican Party. I guess what we can take from this is the old saying that cheaters never win. Join us next time for part five of our series, where we will look goat for all of the Chicago Cub’s problems.
I find it really funny how the presidential candidates pay this much attention to a silly urban legend! People in the Kerry camp were even reported as celebrating the Redskin’s victory. Many former presidents and presidential candidates even admit to watching the game for this very reason! Even though this one was busted this year, with the Redskins losing to the Packers and Bush winning instead of Kerry, it was easy to see this as more than just coincidence when it had been true the since the 1936 elections. As it was stated so well at snopes.com, “reality finally trumped coincidence.” As far as my story goes, this is 100% fake. Not one bit of the part about the “former Kerry campaign advisor” is true, before someone actually sees thinks and takes it as gospel truth. I used this to add some humor to what I think is an already silly urban legend.
Story: Skins Rule the Beltway
By: Brain Murphy
Weblink: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=murphy/041101
Winning Tradition
By: Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
Weblink: http://snopes.com/sports/football/election.asp