Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.sports From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Presidents put sports close 2nd to politics Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 15:13:22 EST Message-ID: \SE D;SPORTS \HD Presidents put sports close 2nd to politics \BY Morris Siegel \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Ping pong, anyone? Don't laugh. It could become socially important right after Jan. 20, when Bill Clinton officially becomes our nation's quarterback. Ping pong? Yep, gnip gnop. That's the way ping pong is spelled by the game's cognoscenti: backward. But not in the Arkansas State House in Little Rock, where - if the governor has or had an official game - it's ping pong. What did you expect, archery, at a place where there is a lot of hunting or bone fishing, where Izaak Walton is almost a household name? Maybe you were thinking golf or tennis, both of which are practiced by the about-to-be-vacating occupant of the White House, along with horseshoes, of course. Other than runnning, jogging and repairing his own 1969 Mercury, our president-elect is not much into sports, certainly not as much as his predecessor, Mr. Bush, who will take a divot on any golf course he is invited to play at, terrorize fishable waters or watch Dave Letterman's show, which doesn't require an Ivy League degree. He soon will have the luxury of time on his hands with no worries - not even where the Redskins are going to build their stadium. History didn't do a very good job of chronicling the sports activities of our presidents until the early '20s, but I have been a sort of a second-string eyewitness to the activities of all since Truman - who was not exactly an All-America at anything except being president, which was considered important in his time. How times have changed. Canada winning our World Series and us walking off with their Stanley Cup. I don't think there ever has been a president who got more out of his play-golf-for-free membership privileges, which come with the Oval Office job, than President Eisenhower. Bird shooting, yes, on the south Georgia plantation of a friend. But making birdies at Augusta and Burning Tree with Arnold Palmer, a frequent companion on the links, was Ike's idea of major-league enjoyment. Of course, Montgomery County's Burning Tree, which comes with the White House lease, is where he enjoyed a home-court advantage like no other member. Eddie Lebaron, the economy-size Redskin quarterback of some four decades ago, recalls a particular experience with Ike: "He went out out on the practice tee and hit a couple of buckets of balls to warm up. Under secret-service protection, of course. Every shot. "When Ike was ready to tee off, he looked out on the practice range, picked out his best warm-up shot, and Ike said, 'I'll take that one,' and that's where play started. "If you sliced into the woods, it was not to worry, it was a pleasure," Eddie remembered. "Agents [who] wore a Sunday golf bag with a small machine gun stashed where the 3-wood was usually placed, went to retrieve the ball, and if the president saw an opening and wanted to hit it out, somehow, miraculously, he had a good line." Ike was one of the favorites of former Senators owner Clark Griffith, but when President Eisenhower once had the audacity to remain at Augusta and play the Masters course, passing up the chore of throwing out the first ball at Griffith Stadium, old man Griff hated him like he hated the Yankees. Nixon probably was the greatest sports nut ever in the White House. He played golf at Columbia, where he was a member, and at Burning Tree, and he was a regular, when he was in town, at Senators games. Nixon was a great favorite of the late Redskins coach George Allen. He attended practice at the Dulles campsite. One Thanksgiving morning before a Redskins-49ers game, Nixon drew up an end-around play and asked Allen to try it against the Niners. They did, the play lost nine yards and the Redskins lost the game. You might think Nixon has infiltrated the current Redskins offense, which hadn't scored a touchdown in 14 quarters until the fourth quarter Sunday in Seattle. Would you call that Redskingate? John Scali, our United Nations ambassador when Nixon opened China, reminds me of the advantages that accrued in 1972 when the president allowed a touring Chinese ping-pong team to play in the United States. Six months later, we opened diplomatic relations with Peking. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM