I am a huge football fan. I am the guy who reads every possible article written about the draft and who my team may take. Then I watch the draft and listen intently to see who the pundits declare as draft “winners” and “losers.” I fall in love with the fifth round running back labeled a “steal” and buy into the predictions of upcoming greatness based on minicamp practices held in shorts and helmets. I follow the preseason games and stay up till wee hours of the night to watch the replays and feel vindicated when that fifth round player rushed for 50 yards.
Here is the problem. I forget that it was the third quarter. Of the third preseason game. Against no one who has ever really played an NFL game. I later marvel when that that player is later cut. He may sign on with another team – maybe. To the practice squad. By this time next year, he is just as likely to be working at a grocery store than invited back to another minicamp. In short, there was a reason he was a fifth round pick.
Now, that brings me to the current presidential race.
For months, CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the rest of the dreaded “we have to report something to justify being on tv 24 hours a day” cable news gang has spent endless hours talking about, dissecting, analyzing and vetting every candidate and potential candidate for president. “Front runners” have been named since January (often before they even declared and MONTHS before the first debate or primary) and pundits have analyzed “polls” to explain why a candidate is “losing support.” And I will admit, I have been caught up in it. Then I woke up.
The debates have just started. The primaries haven’t begun. And if history proves to be correct, this obviously bored group of reporters will end up spending most of their time praising or criticizing a bunch of “fifth round running backs” (do the names Howard Dean and Fred Thompson ring a bell?). In short, we are still in the preseason.
So for those of you who have already ordered your “President (put name here)” tee shirts, relax. There is alot of time between now and November 2016 (i.e. the “Super Bowl”). Debates will flush out issues. Primary votes will be cast. And ultimately, a real front runner will emerge.
Who knows. Your “favorite” today may end up being our next President. Or they may end up the fifth round pick that many thought they were. But there is one thing certain. At least ONE of the candidates (hint: bad hair) won’t be working in a grocery store next year.