2016 Presidential Election - How Sports Has Decided It
The 2016 presidential election cycle has been perhaps the biggest reality television show to grace politics. The entertainment of Donald Trump going nine rounds against Hillary Clinton has been a constant flow into our televisions for the last year and a half it seems, but with the election right around the corner (tomorrow, actually) and no clear and present leader who should we expect to control the White House and the United States come 2017? Many of which have turned to the one thing that stays constant, and will never have us let down at the end of the night like politics has for the last year - sports. Within every election cycle, there is always a list of “coincidences” within sports that are believed to be an accurate projection for the the forthcoming election. But exactly how accurate are these so called projections and are they a reliable crutch to predict the next president? These are three keys to the election that have all signs pointing in one direction.
Let’s start with a personal favorite - the LSU vs. Alabama college football game. Every four years, these two powerhouse SEC football teams square off just days before the election occurs. This year, LSU and Alabama faced off just days before the November 8th election between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. The game had high expectations going into the night as one of the better games of the season, but a few hours before kick off word came around that the game had much more to it than just bragging rights.
Since 1984, when LSU wins against Alabama during an election cycle a Republican takes office. LSU lost to Alabama 10-0 last Saturday.
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In a game that was surprisingly less exciting than the presidential race, the game may of predicted the next president. As it turns out, the winner of the game - in correlation to a specific party - has accurately predicted the president. For LSU it is the Republican nominee and for Alabama it is the Democratic nominee. Going back to the 1984 elections, you can see a pattern of LSU winning the game when a Republican is elected, and Alabama wins when a Democrat is elected. This past weekend Alabama won 10-0 in a fairly even sided game, an unnerving similarity to the polls for the election.
Too add more to the validity of sports being a factor in this election, we can look at baseball and the World Series. In World Series matchups that go seven games, a major “coincidence” happens when the American League wins or when the National League wins. Despite the World Series going to a seventh game being a rarity, the last eight times it has gone to a deciding seventh game with the election going on, it has correlated to the pending presidential race.
When a National League team wins Game 7 during an election cycle, a Democrat takes office. The Cubs beat the Indians in seven games last week.
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When the AL wins, a Republican president takes office (fitting, because the AL is often red), and when the NL wins a Democrat takes office (the NL is often blue). This year, the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs went seven games in the world series with the Cubs winning in the most exciting fashion ever to happen in sports. Could Hillary take the presidency in the most exciting fashion in politics? It could very well happen if you look at the path that sports has created.
Possibly the most convincing claim where politics and sports coincide is for the Washington Redskins. In fact, this occurrence has become such a widely known trend that is has been dubbed “The Redskins Rule”. The rule being that is the Redskins win their last home game before the election the incumbent party wins the presidency. If the Redskins lose, the incumbent party loses as well. This trend has had success all the way up into last year, accurately predicting a president from 1936 to 2012. With the Redskins winning this past weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles 27-20, all signs point to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats winning the presidency. Can you say coincidence or can you say coincidence?
The famous "Redskins Rule" may prove to be true yet again this Tuesday after a Redskins win over the Eagles.
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
With the ball in Hillary Clinton’s court to keep the record true, we can do nothing but sit and watch the election unfold tomorrow afternoon as we will wait to see who the next president of the United States will be. After a long, long election that has seemed to go on forever we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and we can get back to our normal lives. However, I cannot emphasize the importance of voting - the future of our country depends on it, and your future depends on it as well.
May god be with you, and may your vote count.
