Sports and Politics

Edition #185

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Nov 04, 2024

This is not a politics newsletter at all nor just a newsletter read in the United States, yet I have to talk about the current state of the United States election.

So, I connected the two. Sports are throughout this article. In fact, the whole article is about the connection.

Have any sports stars ventured into the world of politics? Are any sports stars now endorsing any candidates? There’s going to be no bias in any of this. This is a bit of a case study, so once we get past election day, we’ll see what an impact these sports stars have.

Let’s talk about it all, and more, only on Sports Square.

(TO ALL READING THIS: I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS FOR ABOUT 120 HOURS, AND COULD ONLY FIND A LITTLE FOR TRUMP’S SIDE. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE IT AS BIAS.)

ALSO, THIS ARTICLE IS ALL OVER THE PLACE. JUST TAKE THIS AS INFO.

Sports and Politics:

Arnold Schwarzenegger headlines all these athlete-turned-politicians. He had the professional bodybuilding title of Mr. Universe 1968-1970 and the title of Mr. Olympia for a whole decade. Arnold is a Republican, even though he became governor of the blue state of California. Even being a Republican, he’s endorsing Kamala Harris, saying Trump is just not all that.

One person you probably didn’t know about is Charles Barkley. His party has changed over the years. He started as a Republican, then became a Democrat, and is now an independent, giving him free will to talk about any candidate in any way. He wanted to run for governor of Alabama in the 1995 and 2008 elections. You probably didn’t know much about this because he dropped out. He now has absolutely no interest in running for governor right now.

Barkley said that he would never vote for former President Trump (Republican), even though he asked Joe Biden (Democrat) to pass the torch. This is what he said (7/12/24). “He’s had a great life, he’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever been fortunate to be around in my life, but it’s time to pass the torch. And listen … President Trump, I would never vote for somebody who had that mentality. You should always have respect … for the office of whoever who’s in the presidency.”

Speaking of Republicans, James Paul David Bunning, or Jim Bunning, is a Hall of Famer who pitched for 5 teams in a 17-year career. Bunning also won 224 games and struck out 2,855 batters from 1955-71. He made nine All-Star teams and pitched two no-hitters, including a perfect game in 1964. Just 9 years after he retired, he entered politics. He started in the Kentucky Senate but then became a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives group for 12 years. His final political run came between 1999 and 2011 when he was the senator of Kentucky.

It’s pretty easy to see that many sports stars (famous ones) have run for office.

On Sunday Night Football during Week 8, Nick Bosa flashed a MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat. This is very surprising because he plays for the San Francisco 49ers or the California 49ers. As I mentioned above, California is a blue state, and with Kamala Harris coming from California, she’s garnering a lot of support from Silicon Valley leaders. He did this during an interview with George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brock Purdy.

On the other hand, Kamala is getting support from LeBron James, who posted a video and encouraged many to vote for Kamala Harris. Link. While Twitter jumped on this quickly to disintegrate this, it has been helping many people vote for Kamala Harris. Want to know some other basketball stars? Magic Johnson, Steve Kerr, Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, and Stephen Curry all support Kamala Harris.

Donald Trump is getting support from Jake Paul, who according to Forbes, released an 18-minute video “to express his support for Trump and encourage voters to base their research in the truth, not just reckless propaganda or your favorite pop star telling you to vote a certain way. Brett Favre, the former Packers star QB, is also endorsing Donald Trump, for the swing state of Wisconsin.

Honestly, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are making a bigger approach to going for sports stars, as they were endorsed by Mel Blount, Emmitt Smith, Kellen Winslow, Andre Tippett, Marv Levy, Alan Page, Drew Pearson, Kenny Houston, Jan Stenerud, Calvin Johnson, Robert Brazile, Willie Roaf, Mike Haynes, Elvin Bethea and Ron Mix late September. Meanwhile, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are going for former sports stars, regular sports players, or former athletes. This includes people like Antonio Brown.