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By Jeff Merron Page 2 EDITOR'S NOTE: As the Republican National Convention opens Monday in New York, Page 2 joins in the fun with a look at the sports life of the candidate, incumbent President George W Bush.
We requested an equal-time interview with Mr Bush, but the White House did not respond to our request. Every politician seems to have some choice memories they like to trot out. Sometimes, they say it often, adhering to the "Reagan Doctrine," as articulated by White House spokesperson Larry Speakes in 1983: "If you tell the same story five times, it's true." Which may be why Reagan, in 1983, told Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir that he'd filmed the Nazi death camps, then repeated the story a few months later.
Bill Clinton, running for reelection in 1996, said, "Since I was a little boy, I've heard about the Iowa caucuses." The caucuses didn't begin until 1972, when Clinton was already old enough to not inhale. Bush at Yale Bush pitched in three games for the Yale freshman team in 1965. And George W Bush invented organized stickball at Andover. Bush was, indeed, "high commissioner of stickball" during his senior year. But, as Gore didn't start the Internet, W didn't start the stickball league.
Newsweek, in a 2000 interview, "Bush recalled the moment he realized he had true political gifts: When he stood up at morning assembly at Andover to announce, with a series of japes and jokes and props, the formation of a stickball league. Richard W Clapp, who graduated from Andover a year ahead of Bush, remembers the league. "Stickball was a weekend thing," said Clapp in a phone interview.
He was not the founder of the stickball league, and he was not the inventor of the team name 'Nads'." Can a "Stickball Veterans for Truth" ad campaign be far behind? Fantasy Owner In some ways, Bush-the-athlete is much like his Democratic opponent: He's a gamer, he loves sports, and he tries hard but is about as good (or mediocre) as any Joe Jock who played a varsity sport or two as a teen. The biggest difference between Bush and Joe Jock is that Dubya got to live out at least part of his fantasy as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers. That period in the late 1980s and early 1990s cemented Bush's future. He proved he could get things done as the frontman who got The Ballpark at Arlington built. Bush got a hefty return on his small investment in the club, thanks to the boost in value it got from the new park. "A close look suggests that Mr Bush got the opportunity to be a baseball owner mostly because of his connections," wrote Nicholas D Kristof in the Sept. "Moreover, his investment was immensely profitable in part because he and his co-owners were shrewd bargainers who charmed and bullied the city of Arlington into giving them a great deal, with the local taxpayers paying more than $135 million to help build the Rangers a stadium." Mark S Rosentraub, a sports economist, called Bush "The largest welfare recipient in the state of Texas." When the Rangers were sold eight years after Bush bought his two percent stake for $606,000, he walked away with a cool $15 million profit. He was coached, at least some of the time, by none other than "41," his father, who had been good enough to play first base for a very good Yale team in the late 1940s. "I was a helluva Little League player," W told Joe Drape of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution in 1992. But, as Bush quipped while stumping in 1999 and many times thereafter, "I peaked in Little League." His former elementary school principal, John Bizilo, remembers the tyke. "He was a pretty good little player," Bizilo told the National Journal in March 2001. I'd hit fungoes to the boys before school and during recess, and he always caught more than his share. Unfortunately, Bush didn't hit too many flies for the other teams to run down. While his mother, Barbara, remembers him as an all-star, former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, who saw him play in Midland, saw something else.
His Little League coach, Frank Ittner, gave Inside Houston pretty much the same assessment: "Well, he was a good catcher. According to Castro, the first President Bush noticed how much W hustled on the ballfield, writing to his father-in-law, "He tries so very hard." But by the time Bush got to Andover, trying hard didn't matter quite as much. Bush, by all accounts, was a stellar cheerleader and always ready to get a game going. he didn't make the varsity baseball and basketball teams until his senior year. He played two years of JV football, but didn't make the varsity. He played guard, and he could only dribble with his right hand. It was easy to defend him because he could only go to his right. It's my contention that he's still the same, politically." Presidential Superlatives Which President was the best athlete? Jeff Merron answers those questions -- as well as "What is Hoover-ball?"
At Yale: The myth of mediocrity Bush has consistently mentioned two major leaguers as his heroes: Willie Mays, during his boyhood; and Nolan Ryan, who pitched for the Rangers during Bush's ownership of the club. In 1965, a year before Ryan's major-league debut, Bush made his diamond debut for Yale, as a relief pitcher. Bush is good-humored about his short stint on the Yale freshman team. "My talent never matched my enthusiasm," he wrote in "A Charge to Keep," his autobiography. He even joked about his lack of ability with Rangers GM Tom Grieve, reported Nicholas D Kristof in a Sept. And he says how one day the pitcher really screwed up, and the coach decides to pull him, and George is really excited and thinks he's got his big chance. "And then the coach calls in a second baseman even though he'd never thrown a pitch. After Bush was elected president, APBA created a special 2001 edition of its card simulation game in his honor. He gets pretty lousy ratings -- which probably reflect his true pitching ability -- but are nevertheless fictitious.
were not based on real stats," wrote Marc Rinaldi of APBA in an e-mail. "As a bit of a practical joke, Hap (Ellis, Bush's cousin, who came up with the idea) had us dummy down the card. As a result, his card only has three hit numbers on it with lots of strikeouts, he is listed as a D pitcher (which in APBA isn't good), and he has a control rating of W -- which means he gives up a lot of walks." Turns out Bush was a pretty good pitcher, when he did take the mound. Here's his line: Year G IP W L H SO BB R ER ERA 1965 3 123 1 0 6 10 4 3 2 180 Yale rugby: 'He was there' Recently, an action photo of Bush playing rugby at Yale appeared in the Los Angeles Times. The photo, which appeared in the 1969 Yale yearbook and carried the caption "George Bush delivers illegal, but gratifying right hook to opposing ball carrier," accompanied a recent op-ed piece in the LA Times by Jim Sleeper, who was an undergrad at Yale with Bush. It's unclear what, exactly, the photo captures -- it could be a right hook, and it could just as well be an awkward attempt to tackle. Sleeper uses the photo caption as a takeoff point for a discussion of Bush's character, which is a fine rhetorical device but is unlikely to sway the undecided voter. Bush playing rugby The Yale yearbook published this photo of a rugby-playing Bush. Rugby was one of the many intramural and club sports Bush played at Yale. During his junior year alone, he played tackle football, touch football, rugby, baseball and basketball. "He had good foot speed, which was a big requirement of his wing position," Dr. Monty Downs told Jan TenBruggencate of the Honolulu Advertiser. "I don't recall him making any game-breaking plays, but he was there where he needed to be. "After the rugby game," Downs added, "there was always a party, a keg or two of beer and colorful rugby songs. The Marathoner in Chief This presidential race features perhaps the two fittest candidates ever. While Bush clearly didn't excel at sports that involve fine motor skills or coordination, he has been a serious runner since 1972; Other presidents have also jogged or run for fitness, including Carter and Clinton; but, in terms of ability and achievement, Bush outdistances his Oval Office predeces...
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