Just a brief diary, wanted to alert everyone to a nice article by Rick Reilly on ESPN.com, about playing fantasy football with Barack Obama.
The Life of Reilly
Nothing earth-shattering in there, but it's a really nice glimpse at Barack Obama, the human being. Both his nice-guy persona and his underlying competitiveness come through:
Then Sunday came. Man, did he get lucky. The guys he made us choose—Brees and Portis—went nuts. The guys I wanted, not so much. We finished 32,190th for the week. But wait! That put us in the 81.2 percentile, which means we beat four out of five teams!
Of course, he already knew. Because, like so many Americans, he was checking the fantasy stats all day, even while he was supposed to be prepping for his final debate. He e-mailed to say he wished he had followed my advice on Berrian (who smoked Marshall), but he was "pumped up" about our numbers.
Here's a guy a couple of weeks away from being the leader of the free world, and he's able to keep up with his fantasy stats. (Heck, if I get one extra report to write on a Tuesday, my fantasy team goes to hell for the rest of the week). That's the kind of president I want.
Oh, and where was McCain? Pulling a Palin.
I asked each candidate to be my running mate for one week in a fantasy league, just to see what kind of president he'd make—how he'd handle decisions under pressure and balance a budget. (On ESPN.com's Gridiron Challenge, you get a mystical $50M to spend on a team.) Only Obama bit.