In what we hope does not become a custom in American politics, the last big, nationally televised interviews of both candidates fell to ESPN’s Chris Berman last night. He asked them nearly identical questions, gave them a chance to boast about their respective first-place NFL teams, and mercifully didn’t give either candidate a nickname. In all fairness, there was really only one nauseating moment, when McCain, using one of Berman’s famous catchphrases, joked that he wanted people to remember when voting that “he … could … go … all … the … way … to the White House!”
But the most interesting responses were to the question, “If you could change one thing in sports, what would that be?” McCain gave a very politician-y answer, saying he’d rid sports of performance-enhancing drugs. But Obama, clearly aware of his audience, gave more of a sports-fan answer. “I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football,” he said. “I’m fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other,” referring to the BCS, the sport’s often unfair, always absurd method of picking its championship-game participants. The answer makes sense, though. If there’s anyone familiar with astoundingly complicated methods of picking a winner of something, it’s Barack Obama.
