Obama, McCain Appear On Monday Night Football The Day Before the Election

by Jon Azpiri | November 4, 2008 at 12:32 pm

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The day before the US election, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain made an unusual tour stop: Monday Night Football. Both candidates fielded sports-related questions during halftime of the game between the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Both candidates were given softball questions by ESPN anchors.

The next big question for both Obama and McCain: If they could change one thing in sports, what would it be?

Obama said he thinks "it's about time we had playoffs in college football."

McCain said he'd like to see and end to "performance enhancing drugs."

It gets worse. Are you sure you want me to go on? OK.

Berman asked both what was the best piece of advice they ever got from sports.

Shock of shocks, both cited lessons learned from a wise high school coach against whom they once mildly rebelled in their youth.

Obama's high school coach told him it's about the team not him. And so, he learned to be a team player, which he also thinks will make him-- are you ready for this? -- a good president.

McCain's high school coach taught him to always do "the honorable thing -- even when you think no one is looking." And guess what he thinks that will make him? You guessed it.

McCain and Obama weren't the first future president to appear on Monday Night Football. That honor goes to Ronald Reagan.

q url="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/sports/football/04sandomir.html?ref=politics"]Only one man who has become president, Ronald Reagan, visited the “Monday Night” booth. Reagan was the governor of California in 1973 when he was spotted in the back of ABC’s booth talking football fundamentals to John Lennon, an incongruous sight to any sensate human aware of the men’s politics. Grasping the moment, Howard Cosell told Frank Gifford to talk to Reagan, and, “I’ll take the Beatle.”[/q]