Top Five US Presidents for an XC team, Who ya got?

Ok, Reagan also survived a bullet inches from his heart.

If we are going on their physical condition while in office, I'd probably pass on Reagan, even though he was an excellent athlete in his day. Eisenhower was old too when he was in office.

I would probably just start by going by age, but skipping anybody with major health or weight issues. 5 youngest guys: T. Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton, Grant, Obama.

I'll keep Roosevelt.

So skip Kennedy because he could barely walk when he was president.

I'll keep Clinton, because we know he ran. That counts for something.

I'll keep Grant, because he was in the army.

I'll keep ex-smoker Obama, because you know he's gonna bust out a 2:15 marathon on his last day in office.

Next on the list is Grover Cleveland. Carter would place in front of him, but we'll still win.

Ford was easily the best confirmed athlete so him.

Carter and GWB are confirmed runners.

Jfk, no his back was eff'd

I'm picking Harding too, dude was an addicted gambler and likely would gave toughed out xc, same for tdr minus the gambling.

Don't know about truman, looked in shape.

Lbj ghwb nixon clinton all no

Ike its my sixth man

Fdr....no

I'll go coolidge, looks slim, for seventh man and lincoln as coach

Suzie the voluptous one wrote:

Obama is a sissy p^ssy - why would you want him on your team?

Kenyans can run fast.

sinqua wrote:

my picks

1) obama; has 20:30 5k credentials

2) Bush: sub 4 marathon credentials

3) Carter: reasons previously stated

4) Lincoln: thin, known to be an athletic wrestler

5) Eisenhower: one tough son of a bitch; 5 star general

Young Ike, sure. He was a decent football player at West Point. But he was an out of shape golfer who had a heart attack while in the White House.

Gerald Ford was probably the most accomplished athlete in his prime of any president and was still in decent shape in the White House. He would be on my team over Ike.

Ford playing basketball on an aircraft carrier during WWII-

Young Teddy Roosevelt was also very fit:

My team:

1. George W Bush - fittest president while in office

2. Jimmy Carter - youngish, wiry, ran in office even if he fainted

3. Obama - young for a president and in reasonable shape

4. Ford - past his prime but active and good natural athlete

5. Teddy Roosevelt - young for a president and active - and would have trained like a demon if he was picked for the team

JFK was young for a president and is a possibility but with his back injury from the war and Addison's he probably looked and acted fitter than he really was. Clinton jogged as president and was young for a president but was never really in good shape and doesn't look like he would ever have much speed

FDR would dominated if you had a nice hard downhill course. He would be in real trouble on a muddy day though.

I bet a guy like Lincoln would have been pretty quick.

I would go with:

Obama - we cannot ignore the kenyan...

Ford - The most athletic president

Zachary Taylor - this old man could really move

Carter - his daughter turned out kind of hot.

Woodrow Wilson - The man ws a true runner...

GWB ran 3:44:52 at the 1993 Houston Marathon.

sinqua wrote:

I love how people think "toughness" is going to be a big factor here.

5) Eisenhower: one tough son of a bitch; 5 star general

I'm choosing to go by different criteria and doing in their prime. Apologies.

Carter-Navy XC

Reagan- Swimming background

GW-Pains me to put him on this list as he was a cheerleader but the man has 5k creds.

Andrew Jackson- Dude was tough.

Ulysses Grant - Every team needs a leader.

Just like Paul Ryans marathon time right?

sinqua wrote:

obama; has 20:30 5k credentials

Maybe there is a good reason wrote:

Suzie the voluptous one wrote:

Obama is a sissy p^ssy - why would you want him on your team?

Kenyans can run fast.

Wrong kind of Kenyan.

JFK, for health reasons, would be one of the worst choices. RFK, who completed one of those 50-mile hikes, would have been a good one, but Sirhan Sirhan had other ideas.

Some of the military heroes like Jackson, Taylor, and Eisenhower look at first glance like good choices, but they were pretty old by the time they got to office. Jackson had bullets in him.

A skinny guy like Polk might seem good, too, except he died of natural causes just a few months after completing his one term, so I'd have doubts.

Teddy Roosevelt may have been tough, but he was stocky. not a god call.

The fact is, as a couple of people have indicated, some of the best choices are relatively recent ones -- Carter, Bush 43, and even Obama despite the cigs.

Franklin Pierce looked fit. Tyler and Coolidge were skinny (Silent Cal did not "trash talk"). Some generally athletic guy like Monroe might have been a good choice.

No to guys like Taft, Cleveland, and McKinley for obvious reasons. Large obvious ones.

JFK was on the Harvard swim team. Swam for miles in ocean (in the PT109 incident) while dragging injured fellow soldier to safety, then swam miles more in effort to get help.

Incident did contribute to his later physical issues.

No love for Millard Fillmore on these boards? Prodigious talent on the roads.

sinqua wrote:

I love how people think "toughness" is going to be a big factor here.

Do you guys realize that there are likely to be huge differences in performance between these men. Someone with 24:00 5k ability can't beat someone with 20:30 5k ability regardless of toughness, and it would take a lot of training to make up that sort of fitness gap which I'm presuming we don't have.

sinqua wrote:

5) Eisenhower: one tough son of a bitch; 5 star general

Did you do this on purpose?

OK, you got your USA presidents team. So who would they run against?

They'd run against the British PMs. Tony Blair looked pretty fit.

ray wrote:

AS far as GWB running 3 miles in 20 minutes........I'm calling bulls&%t on that.

It appears that Bush ran a 5K in 20:27 at age 55 (while President).