Flak Magazine: Kick Out the Sports! 04.05.04

When Michael Jordan was asked in 1990 why he didn't get involved in a North Carolina campaign by an African-American Democrat to unseat then-Senator Jesse Helms, he reportedly answered: "Republicans buy shoes, too."

The story is often told to illustrate Jordan's careful management of his endorsement image, but it also illustrates sport's preferred position at arm's length from the political system — except when there's a new stadium that needs financing. At least, that's how it looks from the outside. But if you look at contributions made thus far in the 2004 presidential race, you'll find many of those silent sports types are quite active. Or at least their wallets are.

Fundrace.org allows you to search by name for individual contributors and their contributions, thereby allowing you to connect some dots between sports and politics. For example, why did President Bush go to this year's Daytona 500 instead of schedule an appearance at the Indy 500? Maybe it's because Bush likes stock cars better than Indy cars, or because Daytona is in hotly contested Florida. More likely, though, is that at least six members of the France family, which controls NASCAR, gave Bush the maximum individual contribution of $2,000. The George family, which controls Indy-car racing, gave nothing.

If Bush feels the need to attend every sporting event featuring one of his contributors, he's going to log more miles than the Maddencruiser. Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden kicked in $1,000. The household of Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight, under his wife Karen's name, contributed the same. Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella gave Bush $2,000. So did Los Angeles Lakers forward Karl Malone. And so did New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, back when he was still the shortstop for the Texas Rangers, a team Bush once owned.

Rodriguez's old boss with the Rangers, owner Tom Hicks, kicked in $2,000 for Bush, as did Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and Detroit Tigers and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch. Bush also scored $2,000 apiece from many NFL owners, although the Cincinnati Bengals' Mike Brown, furthering his reputation as one of the cheapest owners in sports, only gave $1,000.

Team owners are often captains of other industries, and wise enough to know that in political giving you want to hedge your bets. So some of the owners that gave $2,000 to Bush also sent money the Democrats' way. A few seemed to be motivated by hometown pride: Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf gave his Democratic money to Carol Moseley Braun, a fellow Chicagoan. Miami Heat owner Micky Arison tossed his to Bob Graham, a fellow Floridian. Ohio team owners, like most everybody else, ignored Dennis Kucinich.

Not all the Democratic largesse from Bush supporters was sympathy money. James Dolan, chairman of the company that owns the New York Knicks, sent Joe Lieberman $2,000. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay placed a $2,000 Democratic bet on John Edwards, while Cincinnati Reds owner Carl Lindner backed Richard Gephardt. This knack for picking winning talent is what keeps the Knicks, Colts and Reds blissfully championship-free under their current owners.

But not every sports-employed political contributor has a thing for Bush. The NBA, in particular, is a Democratic hotbed, which should come as no surprise for a league whose championship trophy is named after the guy whose office was broken into in the Watergate scandal. Michael Jordan, who did forget about shoe sales long enough to support Democrat and ex-NBA player Bill Bradley in 2000, has not contributed to any candidate yet. But Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl gave $1,000 to his Democratic Senate colleague John Kerry. Meanwhile, Indiana Pacers owners Mel and Herb Simon, friends of Bill Clinton, gave, through themselves or family members, $2,000 apiece to Kerry, John Edwards, Joe Lieberman, Howard Dean and Wesley Clark.

Robert Johnson, the owner of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, gave $2,000 to Edwards, as well as Braun and Al Sharpton. General manager Ernie Grunfeld gave differently depending on who he was working for — as a Washington Wizard, he gave $250 to Edwards, and as a Buck, he gave $500 to Lieberman.

Kucinich...nada.

Edwards appeared to be the biggest beneficiary of NBA money. Here's a partial list of others who gave Edwards the $2,000 maximum: Philadelphia team president Billy King, Cleveland coach Paul Silas, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, Toronto Raptors player Jalen Rose. Exit polls failed to point out Edwards' strong support in the key retired-NBA-players-turned-broadcasters demographic — he got $2,000 apiece from Bill Walton, Doc Rivers and even Charles Barkley, long rumored to be considering running for Alabama governor as a Republican. The general managing Paxson brothers — Cleveland's Jim and Chicago's John — each kicked in $500 to Edwards. Bucks coach Terry Porter sent $250.

Edwards had so much love from the NBA, he might want to consider a job there if this political thing doesn't work out. The first place to send his resume should be Indiana. Along with the Simons, Pacers president Donnie Walsh and special advisor David Kahn each contributed $2,000. First-year Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, getting the hint, sent Edwards $1,000.

NBA commissioner David Stern, again showing the wisdom and foresight that has made him the gold standard for his position in any sport, put his $2,000 on John Kerry.

In fact, if Kerry is willing to use sports as a means to reach voters, as Bush did with his Daytona 500 appearance, he should drop his hockey stick and snowboard and show up, basketball in hand, to hit those NBA Edwards supporters. The Simons have already held one fundraiser for Kerry.

Maybe Kerry can even convince Stern to at least temporarily replace Hall of Famer Jerry West's silhouette in the NBA logo with one of Kerry. After all, Kerry is, like West in his prime, tall and lithe. Plus West, who is now the Memphis general manager, isn't really representative of NBA giving — he put his $2,000 on Bush.

For a more exhaustive list of which professional sports figures contributed what money to whom, click here.

E-mail Bob Cook at bobc@flakmag.com.