You might have seen this on our sister site, but it'll be new to those of you who don't care about the media or the gays. The Republican National Committee's new website went live today, and one section features GOP "heroes." Among them, one Jack Roosevelt Robinson.

While it's true that Robinson campaigned for Nixon in 1960 (hence that mindblowing picture up there), claiming him for the party is as specious as claiming Abe Lincoln. To wit: Robinson was a registered independent, and appears to have changed his mind about the party just four years later.

From his autobiography, on the 1964 Republican Convention:

That convention was one of the most unforgettable and frightening experiences of my life. The hatred I saw was unique to me because it was hatred directed against a white man. It embodied a revulsion for all he stood for, including his enlightened attitude towards black people.

A new breed of Republicans had taken over the GOP. As I watched this steamroller operation in San Francisco, I had a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler's Germany.

It takes a lot of balls to be the first black man in pro baseball, but it takes a hell of a lot more to claim that man would be supporting today's GOP.

Patriots: American Heroes & Famous Republicans [GOP.com]
GOP Tries to Claim the Ghost of Jackie Robinson [Gawker]
New RNC Website Claims Jackie Robinson As "GOP Hero" - But He Was Indy Who Condemned GOP's Racial Tactics [The Plum Line]

Maybe so. Schilling announced on his blog earlier today that he does have some "interest in the possibility."

Of course, Curt is a Republican, has no political experience and would be running in a Democratic state in the footsteps of a deceased hero —but hey, I'm not one to second guess Curt Schilling.

Senate hopeful of the day: Curt Schilling [Boston Globe]

It was December 1983, and Holtz had just been named the Golden Gophers' new head coach, having resigned under pressure as coach of Arkansas the week before. People attributed his departure to two commercials in which he endorsed Sen. Jesse Helms, the onetime Dixiecrat whom Holtz met while coaching at North Carolina State and who is probably still race-mongering in some integrated corner of hell. Here's how one book put it:

Lou's old friend Jesse was conducting a one-man filibuster against the establishment of Martin Luther King Day while the Arkansas staff was calling black mothers trying to recruit their sons.

Lou wasn't that political. He just liked being invited to the White House and knowing powerful friends.

Not long after his hiring in Minnesota, Holtz took to the air and announced he would forswear politics:

In a conversation with Gov. Rudy Perpich broadcast by WCCO-AM in Minneapolis, Holtz told the Democratic governor, "I'll assure you this, I will have nothing to do with politics."

[...]

"I understand the governor (Perpich) is a Democrat and he's definitely popular and I'm not a Democrat," Holtz said. "I'm probably a Republican, but I'm sure the governor would agree that as a citizen we have the obligation to get involved in government and be heard."

But Holtz said that as a public figure, he will "under no circumstances, get involved in controversial issues."

Now the probable Republican wants to represent Florida's 24th district. "You put him in the ring and it's all but over," John Dowless, an Orlando-based Republican consultant, told the Orlando Sentinel. This is apparently because Central Florida is so starved for star wattage that a lisping, befuddled 72-year-old who might as well have just stepped off Friz Freleng's drafting board and who occasionally makes mystifying appearances on television nevertheless constitutes, in Dowless' words, "huge" name ID. Somehow, I doubt this will end any better than the last time Holtz dipped his toe into politics. But who knows. Maybe Holtz will turn out to be a great leader, too.

Holtz Says Bye To Politics [AP]
Ex-Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz eyeing Central Florida congressional run [Orlando Sentinel]

Here's what it looked like (give or take an acid trip):

Says Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll:

It's not good but he said he never played ball as a kid. He looks awkward, but gets a good stride. His elbow's a bit low and his follow through is very short. You know what it looks like? It's like he's trying to throw the ball in, Christian Laettner-style, from the baseline down to someone. Even in throwing a baseball, he's playing basketball.

He's playing to the camera. He kept face forward pretty much the entire time. Maybe that's nerves — even that guy probably gets nervous doing something so unnatural for him — and doesn't get much leg. He was very upright so I'd tell him to get a little bend and push with his knees as he comes through. With a bit more velocity, it would be less of a lollipop curve.

Dr. Mike Marshall, the maverick pitching coach and former rubber-armed reliever, is more forgiving:

He did everything he needed to do to get the baseball there. When he got the arm up and drove it forward, I thought the pitching forearm was pretty close to vertical. If, when you release the ball, your forearm is vertical, that's doing a really good job. Most baseball players — like Dontrelle Willis — their forearms are horizontal. It makes it difficult to throw anything in the strike zone.

Given the circumstances, and whatever protective gear he was wearing and everything else, I think he did just fine. He doesn't use the arm as powerfully as he could. He's very guarded. He was very tight with his shoulders and elbow action. What I'd teach him to do is lengthen out the arm, lengthen out his backswing. I've seen him shoot jump shots. He has an excellent shooting stroke. It's not all that much different throwing a baseball. It takes training, though, and I'd like him to spend as much time as he can on fixing the economy.

And longtime pitching coach Tom House, now at USC, thought Obama did fine, too. He pronounced his performance "serviceable":

His balance and posture were very good. His lift and thrust — in other words, getting his body going — were very good, considering the fact that he had street clothes on and was wearing a coat. His stride and momentum were a little short, but serviceable. His opposite-and-equal was barely adequate; his arms should look the same on both sides of his body going into his foot stride, but he was a little soft with his right arm, and a little bit of what we call a short-armer with his left arm. His actual throwing motion wasn't too bad. It's serviceable. Into the release point, it was very good. His release point was a little short, and because of that, the ball didn't quite get the whole way. If he was a coach throwing batting practice, it would've been great.

I'd tell him to come faster, go forward to the target faster, stride farther, and extend both the throwing arm and the gloveside arm from inside of 90 degrees to outside of 90 degrees. His problem was that he didn't take advantage of his levers. Basically, it was just a step and throw. If I was one-on-one with him, I'd ask him if he was just trying to survive the throw rather than make the throw. If I was certain he was in shape, I'd have him show a bit more number as he comes down the hill. I'd like him to get a bit more violent.

President Obama throws out first pitch of 2009 All Star Game [YouTube]

First, here's the metaphor, from the text of her resignation speech:

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me - sports... basketball. I use it because you're naïve if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I'm doing that - keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities - smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it's time to pass the ball - for victory.

All of which would look something like this:

MS Painting by Ben Cohen

However, a few of the players found a way to send their thoughts back to their countrymen, by wearing green wristbands out on the pitch. This incredibly subtle form of protest works because green is pretty much the only color allowed in their country and you can't use your hands in soccer in anyway. After halftime, though, only captain Mehdi Mahdavikia still had his on, which I'm sure had nothing to do with the crazy dictators running their country.

"Soccer Team official: green wristband were due to religious tradition, we removed to deny any speculation and misunderstanding."

That could be true, I guess. It could also be true that they were ordered to take them off, because both the players and team officials knew the game would be on state television back home and many of the anti-government protesters have been wearing similar attire in support of robbed presidential Mir Hossein Mousavi. What the TV watchers probably didn't see, however, were the Iranian fans in the stadium in Seoul waving flags that read "Free Iran" and "Go to hell dictator." That might have sent some kind of message too.

By the way, Iran gave up the game-tying goal in the 81st minute and now needs North Korea to beat Saudi Arabia in order to stay alive for the 2010 World Cup. (Come on, Axis of Evil!) So I guess the whole country is having a rough week.

Iranian soccer players wear green protest bands [Fox News]
Iran Soccer Players Behind Mousavi? [CBS News]
Iran Updates: Live-Blogging The Uprising [Huffington Post]
Soccer Protest: Iran Players Show Support for Mousavi [Time]
Iran players don protest colours [Iran Focus]

Tagg Romney, the eldest strapping young lad to burst forth from the American loins of the former governor of Massachusetts, has announced an essay contest (ooh, fun) on Mitt's website. All you have to do is write 250 words about what a "free and strong America means to you" and donate $50 dollars to his dad's political action committee. (I guess the part of America that holds essay contests isn't free.) The writer of the best essay will get a trip to Boston and get to sit in the Romney family seats at Fenway Park. Not with Mitt, though. Just you and Tagg, yuckin' it up and bein' all American and shit.

You may scoff at the offer to discuss family values behind the Red Sox dugout with a semi-prominent Mormon, but the Romneys are still kind of a big deal in the Commonwealth, so I bet the seats are pretty good. Give it a shot! Here's my entry:

"What does a free and strong America mean to me, Tagg? I'll tell you. It means a place where the women are more fertile than the briny, salt-infested badlands that we tread upon. A place where a man can raise whole farms full of strong young boys with names as rugged as the rock formations that will protect us from global warming (which doesn't exist, by the way.) A place where men are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the blueness of their shirts. A place where single-payer healthcare means I can use my American Express card for both Ny-Quil and boob jobs for my "friends." A place where comfortable slacks aren't just for Casual Fridays. A place where our national borders are safe and secure from unwanted intruders ... unless your great-grandpappy needs to a place to lay low for awhile as he builds his freaky, anything goes, sex harem.

Oh, but no gay stuff."

Gee, I still have 100 words or so to play with. I think he'll get the idea.

Essay Contest: Sit in the Romney Family Seats at Fenway [Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC]