Eight U.S. presidents who loved sports

The mid-fall is one of the best times of year for sports fans. Major League Baseball crowns a champion. Pro and college football teams play meaningful games every weekend. Basketball (and, in most years, hockey) gets underway. The top stock car drivers chase the Sprint Cup. And all the world’s top soccer leagues are in action. Of course, in years divisible by 4, the mid-fall in the United States is also election season. The 2012 election season is heating up, with both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney shooting to score points with voters. Frequent Intersection of Sports and Presidential Politics While sports serves as a welcome respite from the mudslinging and discussion of complex issues that accompanies any major election, the realms of sports and politics have never been mutually exclusive. During the rise of spectator sports in the twentieth century, several sports lovers ascended to the nation’s highest office. Herbert Hoover, for instance, was a student manager for the Stanford f...