Seeing John McCain's stealthy move with the Pittsburgh Steelers D-Line, Obama has raised him another sporting degree by becoming the first presidential candidate ever to sponsor an entire car. At least according to Sports Illustrated. This highlight of American political life is set to occur on August 3 with the No. 49 Sprint Car.

"Racing sources claim one of the options being considered would allow individual campaign donors to get their name on the race car for as little as $100," SI reports.

Your move Senator McCain, your move.

Obama to sponsor Sprint Club Car at Pocono [Sports Illustrated]

In a further sign that neither candidate is going to give an inch of ground when it comes to doling out sporting bona fides in swing states, John McCain stepped up his wooing of Pittsburgh voters by discussing his affinity for their football team.

"When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup — defensive line — of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron-mates!"

Not to be outdone, Barack Obama immediately responded to McCain's brazen attempt to claim the votes of Pittsburgh Steeler fans, "That's nothing," Obama said, "I blew Terry Bradshaw yesterday."

McCain named Steelers defensive line in POW camp [KDKA 2]

Proving that no angle can be left unexamined when it comes to politics, Thursday night football games are now the Democrat’s enemy at their National Convention. Because Obama’s convention speech is the same night as the opening of college football season. Uh-oh, a Democratic scheduler was just decapitated. Yep, as Obama strides to the podium to ignite the country with his impressive support of change and the future four football games across the country will be taking place. In a bravura piece of college football/political handicapping, Steve Kornacki over at the New York Observer's "The Politicker" has offered his take on the significance of these four games.
Thursday's slate: NC State at South Carolina, Vanderbilt at Miami (Ohio), Wake Forest at Baylor, and Oregon State at Stanford.

Toss the latter game on the scrap heap. Not just because it’s a Pac-10 game between two of the worst teams in the Pac-10 but because there’s no doubt that California and Oregon are Obama country. But the other three? Well, if Obama is truly going after North Carolina, it probably sucks that two North Carolina teams are playing that night. Although, let’s be honest, anyone who is dumb enough to make a decision based on a single political speech is also dumb enough to be swayed by a single political ad in the weeks leading up to the election. Let’s just hope for Obama’s sake that those ads air during football games. Or that he begins his speech with a recitation of up to the minute score updates. Who knows maybe he could borrow Stu Scott to handle that. Commenter opening lines for Stu Scott welcome. I'm sure the campaign will take note.

How much does it suck that we live in a country where some people could make a different decision on whom to support for the Presidency based upon a conflict with college football games? A ton. Somewhere Nero is warming up the fiddle.

How College Football Could Be the Death of Obama's Campaign [The New York Observer]

I spent most of this past Father’s Day weekend and all of Monday watching Tiger Woods drag himself to victory at the U.S. Open on a busted leg. Monday’s webcast was, in particular, a joy to watch. The long, interstitial shots of the coast during the TV breaks were oddly soothing. I noticed during the coverage that Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller went to great pains to let the audience know just how big of an underdog Rocco Mediate was. He was old! He was ranked really low! He had a bad back! He was abused by lesbian nuns as a child!

They also took great pains to let the audience know that Mediate was really enjoying himself out on the course. It was damn near Farvian praise. Look at him smiling like a little kid! And talking! And having fun! And not acting like a total prick! Indeed, it was a rare sight in golf. Especially in contrast to Woods, who spent most of the tournament (17 and 18 on Saturday excepted) looking like he had an acorn up his ass. I’d blame it on the leg, if he didn’t look like that during pretty much every tournament.

And yet, for all of those attributes. for every likable, underdog quality Mediate possessed, I had zero interest in seeing him actually win the tournament. I wanted Woods to win. And when he did, I was pleased. I rooted for the big man to crush the little guy.

Rooting for Woods, as pretty much all casual golf fans do, runs counter to our instincts as sports fans. You’d never root for a 1 seed to pull of the win against a 16 seed in the NCAA tournament unless it was your own school or you had a boatload of cash riding on it. You’d never root for the Yankees to win the World Series, unless you live in the Bronx and enjoy smacking your girlfriend around. It’s an American thing to root for the underdog. Rooting for the best team is a total dick move. It’s why Boston fans are such assbags.

So why is Tiger an anomaly? Well, for one thing, it’s golf. Random assholes populate the leaderboards of events all the time. Rocco Mediate may have been an enormous underdog. But really, he’s no more surprising a contender than Rich Beem was when he beat out Tiger at the 2002 PGA Championship. Or Ben Curtis when he won the British Open a few years back. It’s not exactly earth-shattering when a golfer you’ve never heard of pulls a great week out of his ass and wins a Major, even with Tiger around. It happens all the time. Just because Rocco’s a particularly affable guy doesn’t mean he’s that much different from the rest of the Michael Campbells out there.

As a result, a Tiger win feels more significant in the long run than a Tiger upset. This sort of evaluation cuts across all sports. We as fans are constantly weighing the potential magnitude of the unexpected versus the dominant. A lot of people wanted to see the Patriots go 19-0 this year, because it was unprecedented. A lot of people wanted to see the Patriots go 18-1 this year, because it was unprecedented. More often than not, when confronted with a neutral rooting interest, we make our decision on who to cheer for based on which outcome we feel will be more historic.

The average casual golf fan doesn’t tune into Tiger on TV just to watch him lose. They’re there to see him do shit well beyond the standards for excellence in his field of work. They’re there to watch him make history. More important, they’re there to feel as if they are a living part of that history.

It’s funny desire to have, yet it’s something that possesses many of us. I know it affects me. I wanted to watch the US Open not only for its sheer entertainment value (and to avoid the very small amount of daily work I regularly do), but to be in on the moment when something significant happened. To feel like I was there. And to say that I was there when I saw it.

This isn’t terribly rational on my part. In fact, it’s pretty goddamn narcissistic. After all, I didn’t do jack shit. All I did was watch some other guy do something. And it’s not as if watching it happen was something only I got to do. Millions of people saw it. After Tiger retires, multiple generations of people out there will be able to say they watched him play golf. Given that being able to watch him play is simply a matter of age and circumstance, and that any of your peers or mine could make a similar boast, why is it so important to be in on that history?

When Tim Russert died on Friday, I learned about it when I was at the gym. They cut out from the US Open coverage and went to a big NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT graphic. Then Tom Brokaw showed up on screen, at which point I knew some serious shit was going down. Clearly, Brokaw was there to deliver some sort of tragic news. And, in that moment, I felt an emotion I really should not have felt: a very, very morbid sense of excitement.

It was an absolutely shameful emotion to feel. The guy fucking died. Yet, when something sudden and tragic happens in the world – 9/11, Katrina, the bombings in London, etc. – it’s sometimes impossible to suppress the adrenaline flow and NOT feel a bit energized by the fact that something is HAPPENING – a sordid thrill that you are there live to witness to something of an almost impossible magnitude. You’ll find no shortage of people who will talk to you enthusiastically about where they were when Kennedy was shot, or when 9/11 happened. There’s a sadness to all of those tales, but there’s also a kind of odd pride that emanates, that comes from the storyteller having lived through it. I hate that I sometimes have that feeling deep in the recesses of my mind when tragedy strikes. It’s inappropriate, pathetic, and useless. So why is it there?

I’m voting for Barack Obama this fall. Now, I have lots of reasons to do it, all of them blatantly self-serving. Don’t like Obama? Feel like voting for McCain? Fine by me. I’m not interested in starting any sort of political flame war. But the main reason that I’m voting for Obama is because he offers something that McCain does not: an opportunity for me to “be a part” of a historic moment.

It’s an inescapable fact for both candidates that a black man winning the White House would be a far a greater milestone in American History than if another oldass white guy were to keep the streak alive. The reason Obama can talk about change all the time without getting too specific is because he doesn’t have to get specific. He IS the change. The act of him winning, by itself, has a huge impact.

So there’s something immensely appealing to me about the prospect of living through that sort of moment. I was born in 1976. I have lived through exactly one seminal moment in American history, and that was 9/11. I would very much like something to counterbalance it. I’d like to bear witness to history and not feel ashamed for the odd kind of thrill it provides. I’m voting for the moment as much as I’m voting for the man.

I wish I could tell you I like Barack Obama because he has detailed plans laid out to end the war, solve the economy, save the planet, cure cancer, invent the flying car, and get Erin Andrews to pose for High Society. And he may very well have those plans tucked away somewhere on his website, along with a fully padded resume. But I’ve never bothered to look, because I don’t particularly give a shit about any of that (except the Erin Andrews part). No, I’m voting for him because, history-wise, it’s just more interesting. It makes for a more entertaining and significant part of MY personal history.

Is this a superficial reason to vote for someone? Even somewhat racist? Oh, yes. Superficiality and racism are two of my strongest suits. But I can’t resist the primal urge, deep in my core, to watch something notable occur. You hear Baby Boomers brag all the time about the 60’s and Woodstock and all that shit. “What a time to be alive, maaaaan.” It’s almost as if generations are competitive with one another about who gets to be around for the most shit going down, good or bad. Because if we’re around for something important, then there’s a feeling, by osmosis, that we’re important as well.

Even more, there’s a feeling that, the more history we get to live through, the more we have in common as a population. Even though we do it in separate rooms and houses, we watch massive sporting events like the U.S. Open together. We watch presidential elections together. We watch horrible news like 9/11 together. And we get to share with each other where we were when it happened, and how we felt. Those moments galvanize us. We call each other when the moment happens. We email. We leave a comment. We give each other our own little, tiny, insignificant view of that history.

It’s a natural byproduct of our ambition, our selfishness, our insecurity, and our curiosity. It’s a way of amplifying our own lives, of placing our lives into a greater context. Alone, we don’t matter. The only way we can feel like we’ve made an impact on the world is if we’re part of a moment that’s woven into the greater social fabric. Because those moments cannot achieve transcendence if no one is there to witness them.

It’s a selfish, arrogant feeling, to want to be a part of history in the making. But it’s a feeling that all of us, at one time or another, share. And that’s what makes it so oddly beautiful.

And that’s why Tiger’s leg can’t heal fast enough.

Do you consider yourself part of Team Obama '08? Feel like you could be doing so much more to join the cause and show your support? There's probably no better way than to actually be on Obama's team—his college prep school basketball team, that is. Well, short of inventing an awesome time machine and traveling back to the '70s, your only chance is to dress yourself in the new exclusive Obama Throwback Jersey.

A Deadspin production meeting for development of a John McCain joke to accompany this post has been called for this afternoon. We know that the name James Naismith should be in the joke somewhere, but that's as far as we've gotten.

Obama Throwback Jersey [Neighborhoodies]
0bama's High School First In SI Survey. No Mention Of Ridgemont High [Deadspin]
The Obama Throwback [Steady Burn]

Obama's love of basketball is well-documented — amusingly, almost everyone who talks about his game makes clear that he plays hard but is not, in fact, particularly talented — and he's also a diehard White Sox fan. (And not afraid to show his Bears fandom either.) Sen. John McCain is a Diamondbacks fan — not, alas, a Buzzsaw fan — and has worked for years to clean up boxing.

You can expect both to draw on the sports world in the coming months, but Barack, we gotta say this: We've supported you from the get-go, and we've even given your campaign money, but swear to God, if the Cubs make the World Series, and you start touting that during the campaign, we're voting for Bob Barr.

OK. We're not voting for Bob Barr. But still: Don't do that. And hey, worse case scenario, you can always have your name on the ballot like this.

Today, with a K-12 enrollment of 3,760, Punahou is the largest single independent school in the U.S. It is also the oldest in the country west of the Mississippi, and seemingly the most overachieving. Since 1958 the Buff 'n Blue have racked up 368 Hawaii championships — a state-record 16 this school year alone, including eight in the past two weeks.

Obama — who was called Barry O'Bomber in his hoops playing days — has often admitted that he wasn't the best student in high school, calling himself somewhat of a slacker. On the other hand, I'm as sure as sure can be that Hillary in high school would remind us of Tracy Flick in Election.

At any rate, it's a shame that ESPN Rise is not up and active to jump all over this puppy.

Fast Times At Punahou High [Sports Illustrated]
SI Says Obama's School Is Nation's Best In Sports [USA Today]
Punahou Athletics Ranked Best In U.S. [Honolulu Advertister]

Daulerio says he has been holding out on heading to the polls because the lines have been too long — we do work him pretty hard here — and that seems like a good sign for, you know, America. Our minds are still spinning after the Obama-Clinton "smack" "down" at the WWE last night; we're not sure if this makes us love our country more, or become that much more terrified of it.

So, in case any of the NBA Playoff games become a blowout tonight, you should all have plenty to watch. (Look! Chris Matthews is making Keith Olbermann want to kill himself again! We love politics!) And yes, Pennsylvanians: Vote, fools.

But Obama bravely returned to that station this morning to talk about more appropriate sports-related topics, like, uh, sports. Obama made some small talk, joked about his terrible bowling skills, and also said that he'd rather be a professional basketball player than leader of the free world. Specifically, Julius "Dr. J" Errrrrrrr-ving:

"I think any kid growing up, if you got a chance to throw down the ball from the free throw line, that's better than just about anything."

Hopefully, he doesn't plan on emulating the Doc's off-court behavior, which entailed stealthily impregnating female sports reporters.

Where is Alexandra Stevenson these days, anyway?

Obama tells WIP he'd rather be Dr. J [Inquirer]
Audio of the interview [The 700 Level]

Scoring one point for each first-round victory so far, the tally after Thursday's games:

Obama 13, McCain 12.

McCain was tripped up in two key areas: He picked Kent State, while Obama avoided that potential quagmire and correctly tabbed UNLV. McCain also went with Arizona; an obviously partisan pick that may cast doubt on his overall judgment. Obama was tripped by by Winthrop, which he inexplicably picked over Washington State, and he has scheduled a press conference for later today to explain the gaffe. The only team to be incorrectly picked by both candidates was USC.

As for Hillary Clinton's NCAA picks, she has not yet released those documents.

Meanwhile, Ralph Nader is that guy in your office who every year turns in his pool brackets three hours after the games have started on Thursday, pleading "I haven't been looking at the scores, honest!"

Barak Obama's NCAA Tournament bracket [CBS News]
John McCain's NCAA Tournament bracket [John McCain.com]

Was 'Barry' Obama also on the guest list for Jose Canseco's most famous pool party?

[cansecopoolparty.com]

Yahoo points out some fun baseball-related Obama merchandise. Though we're still a little concerned about Emmitt Smith supporting him. He's absolutely going to call him Osama at some point, without question.

Finally, Obama Campaign Wear For The Baseball Fan [Yahoo! Sports]
Obama Hooks 'Em In Visit With 'Horns [Austin American-Statesman]

(By the way, enjoy the comments on that Stateman story.)

"We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington state, We won North, we won South, we won in between. And I believe that we can win in Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for change."

Obama Gets Convincing Wins In 3 States [NY Times]

In typical fashion, political primary season has become more of a referendum on candidate popularity and charisma, with nary a position on the issues in sight. Super Tuesday may have clarified the electability conundrum for some of the rat-racers, but there's one issue we just can't ignore as we march inexorably toward the biggest day on any political pundit's calendar: Tournament Selection Sunday.

Which candidate will do right by college basketball?

Hillary Clinton
• Husband Bill is a huge Arkansas Razorback fan. Was at the 1993 National Championship.
• Would most likely claim to be a fan of all 300 plus college basketball teams.
• Could do wonders for the women's college basketball game.

Barack Obama
• Brother-in-law Craig Robinson is head coach at Brown.
• Noted in "The Audacity of Hope" that watching college hoops was one of the benefits of living away from family in D.C.
• Has been known to play some ball on the campaign trail.
• May be able to revitalize Illini hoops.

John McCain
• Well-known Arizona sports enthusiast.
• Was in Indianapolis when Arizona topped Kentucky for the National Championship.
• Wants to ban gambling on college sports.
• Posted his tournament picks online, picked all #1 seeds to make the Final Four.

Mitt Romney
• Ran the 2002 SLC Winter Olympics, which is at least sports-related.
• Went to Stanford and BYU, both of which will likely be dancing.
• Mormons tend to be good at college basketball (holla atcha boy, Shawn Bradley!).

At Storming the Floor, we've thrown our considerable voting bloc behind Obama. McCain seems passionate, but who picks all #1 seeds? With fitness buff George W. Bush leaving the White House, we'd like to know that our next president can still take down any other world leader in a pick-up game, if it ever comes to that.

Glad That's Over, Let's Do It Again Next Month. Duke 89 - UNC 78. Coach K notched his 795th career victory against his toughest rival, as the Blue Devils poured in thirteen buckets from behind the arc, a stark contrast to the 20 percent from three-point range by the Tarheels. Tyler Hansbrough went out man-style, with 28 points and 17 boards, but beanpole Kyle Singler's 14 and 11 were nothing to sneeze at, either. Duke now has the inside track to easy street.

Dear Diary... Baylor 80 - Texas Tech 74. Bryce Drew has had a few more years to practice this whole "following your dad into coaching" thing, and it showed. According to game reports, Pat Knight had a notebook and was actually writing things down during the game. This does not bode well.

SEC is Resurrection Central. Kentucky 66 - Auburn 63. A quick look at the top of the SEC standings shows Arkansas, Florida, and Kentucky within striking distance of the league's top spot. That's three programs that were left for dead just one short month ago. Injury problems made this an incredibly tight game - The Wildcats used only two bench players, and the Tigers only one. Patrick Patterson provided the winning margin on the road, hitting clutch free throws in the final minute of play en route to a 19 point, 8 rebound night.

Tonight's Big Game, Plus One That's Just Fun to Talk About

Love to Love You, Baby. UCLA (20-2) at Washington State (17-4). Make no mistake, the Cougars are slipping, and the Bruins are streaking. In a recent loss to Stanford, WSU committed only four turnovers while stripping the Cardinal eleven times, so that isn't the problem. A 25 percent rate from behind the arc in the last two Pac-10 losses might need fixing, however. UCLA will soldier on without Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who has an ankle sprain. I hear the other guys on the team are pretty good, though.

I Don't Do Contracts, But My Word's Stronger than Oak. Indiana (18-3) at Illinois (10-13). Fans in Champaign have made a solid verbal commitment to go easy on Eric Gordon. At least they're probably, kinda, maybe, sorta getting the well-traveled Alex Legion next season.

Eric Angevine writes about college hoops daily at Storming the Floor, and is a regular contributor to Chicago Sports Weekly. He can be reached at stormingthefloor@gmail.com.

If you feel so inclined, you can vote for the candidates based on their baseball team choices. To sum up:

Obama: Chicago White Sox.
Romney: Boston Red Sox.
McCain: Arizona Diamondbacks.
Clinton: Oh, who the heck knows anymore?

The whole election has been just as much fun as anything in sports over the last month, other than that Super Bowl of course. We'll be up way too late into the night watching results. Most important: Go out there and vote. And, hell, if freaking Perez Hilton can do it, so can we: Go out there and vote Obama.

Presidential Candidates and Baseball - Super Tuesday Update [Home Run Derby]

(Photo by: Matthew C. Wright Photography)

Seriously: That's how much trouble Illinois Republicans were having at that time.

GOP leaders decided to try and convince Mike Ditka to take their party's spot and run against then-state senator Obama. Besides being a popular Chicago figure, Ditka was a also a strong conservative, campaigning for George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential election.

However, Da Coach ultimately decided to stay out of the race, declaring, "I have a lot of commitments that I've made previous to this coming up, some obligations to my partners here at (his) restaurant. And therefore, it's something that I can't do at this time."

Honestly, can you imagine if there were YouTube clips of Obama debating Ditka? Hillary wouldn't need to make a single negative ad; it's hard to appear presidential when you're on a dais with Mike Ditka, poppin' Cialis and snappin' gum.

Ditka Could've Demolished Obama's Dreams In '04 [Sports By Brooks]

Smith appeared on the program to discuss Sen. Barack Obama's debate performance the other evening, and it was vintage Stephen A.

Here's how he started his comments:

I was totally BORED, Chris, I was totally bored and I was DISGUSTED. I thought Barack Obama took a significant step back.

Yes! This is what our political landscape has been missing: Absolute certainty, expressed at maximum volume, that tramples over anything resembling subtle discourse. Wait: That's exactly what political punditry is. Smith was, oddly, a compelling presence, a guy beamed in from a different planet to yell at us with the authority of Zeus.

As blog Hullabaloo points out, all you really have to do is replace "Barack Obama" with "Kobe Bryant," and you have every single appearance Stephen A. has made on ESPN. But somehow, in the political realm, where the goal actually is to scream louder than everyone else, Stephen A. made perfect sense. Expect more appearances from Stephen A., without question. We can only dream of Stephen A. at some point moderating a debate; GOVERNOR ROMNEY YOU HAVE CHANGED YOUR POSITION ON THESE CHEESY DOODLES WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF.

They've Really Come Full Circle [Hullabaloo]

Here's video of the segment:

In politics they call them "pundits," whereas in sports we call them "experts," "columnists" or "Bayless." But it's pretty much the same thing; as Hillary Clinton's shocking win in New Hampshire last night proved, nobody knows anything. We've been reading Swampland and Andrew Sullivan and The Page and The Stump like someone poring over their fantasy team for the last few months, and not a single "pundit" saw last night's results coming. If we were in sports, Hillary's speech would have been nothing but her pounding her chest, screaming about "respect."

It was amusing to watch Chris Matthews and Tim Russert echo Chris Berman last night, with their, "that's why they play the games" comments. We jumped into study of this year's presidential race with the notion that we did not understand anything, that the world of political coverage was a far different one, with different rules and maxims, than the world of sports coverage. After last night, we now know: Nope, same shit.

Fresh hot and ready, it's Obama-Arenas 2008 campaign shirts: A campaign team that could change the way you think about politics.

Show your support for the only campaign that promises to:
-Legislate the No Snub Left Behind Act.
-Promote universal health care.
-Pardon Chico DeBarge
-Pursue alternative energies incentives: offer bacon grease subsidies.
-Offer comprehensive immigration reform: illegal immigrants can fast-track their citizenship by defeating Homeland Security Czar DeShawn Stevenson in a 3-point shooting competition, an initiative that will be dubbed: "I Want To Feel The Face of Freedom."
-Redecorate the Oval Office as an exact replica of the Lt. Castillo office set from Miami Vice.
-Annex Wheaton Plaza. Crush the resistance movement by cutting off edible underpants supply to Spencer Gifts.

Can the McCain/McIlvaine ticket promise you all that?!

No. It absolutely cannot. So get the shirts and join the party.

OBAMA/ARENAS '08 Official Black Presidential Campaign T-Shirts [Mothering Hut]