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

George Washington was known as a very good athlete in his day and was extremely strong. Might not be a great endurance person, (I have heard he long jumped over 20ft which would have been a WR) but for pure athletic ability, he has to be on the team.

Obviously W. Bush has to make it, but he couldn't run much in office because of his knees, but he took up biking pretty seriously and stayed fit.

Obama, being one of the youngest presidents and is also pretty active should make the team.

JFK, no way. But if RFK lived and won, he would have made the team.

Ford played football in college and was pretty athletic.

While Jimmy Carter was the only scholastic runner he should make the team, but I can't get over the image of him trying to run a 10k while in office and dropping out.

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2025424_2025864_2025986,00.html

Here is an SI article on Carter's running days.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1094240/index.htm

It sort of depends on whether you want to pick them when they were in their prime as athletes, or in their time as president.

--Ron Reagan was captain of his swim team...

--Eisenhower was known as a pretty accomplished boxer...

--Teddy Roosevelt was a fitness fanatic and boxer, though apparently also asthmatic. Would he get to use an inhaler?

--GWBush & Carter actually ran, but the results weren't always pretty:

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2025424_2025864_2025986,00.html

--for what it's worth, I'd put Andrew Jackson in the mix, just as an unpredictable badass.

Top 5

1. FDR (using one of those speed wheelchairs)

2. Carter (Ran college XC)

3. Ford (just saw the basketball picture of him on letsrun)

4. Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider and professional boxer)

5. Obama (Kenyan genetics)

Back Pack: (Start with Slowest)

1. Taft (google any picture and you'll understand)

2. Harrison (Dying of pneumonia upon entering office)

3. Nixon (DQ for cutting the course)

4. Cleveland (Things named Cleveland don't turn out well)

5. Jackson (Slept with the wrong blanket the night before the race)

GWB

OBAMA

FORD

JFK

REAGAN

Bush Jr (especially if this is a beer mile)

Bush Sr (college baseball player)

Ford (michigan football player)

William Henry Harrison (the reason he dies would be the reason hed be a great runner)

Martin Van Buren. ( great mutton chops)

I choose not to jump on the carter bandwagon. its too easy of a choice

What is amazing is how much hatred there is for GWB. The guy is clearly the fastest in-office president, which also makes him easily one of the top picks to be one of his best at any other point in his life. Yet, there are still people who do not pick him, for no good reason.Yet, Obama, a confirmed smoker, gets picked because of "Kenyan genetics." Well, guess what, he is also 50% white genetics. Anybody want to call racism on that one? No. But if you disagree with Obama on something completely unrelated to race, you are a racist. How does that work?

Uncle Goodtime wrote:

Top 5

1. FDR (using one of those speed wheelchairs)

2. Carter (Ran college XC)

3. Ford (just saw the basketball picture of him on letsrun)

4. Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider and professional boxer)

5. Obama (Kenyan genetics)

Back Pack: (Start with Slowest)

1. Taft (google any picture and you'll understand)

2. Harrison (Dying of pneumonia upon entering office)

3. Nixon (DQ for cutting the course)

4. Cleveland (Things named Cleveland don't turn out well)

5. Jackson (Slept with the wrong blanket the night before the race)

Roger Bannister was a smoker and I believe you would agree with me in thinking that he was a good runner. Also, this message board is supposed to be for fun, not something that's supposed to spiral into an intense argument with insults. Seriously, chill out and relax.

George Washington- this guy would train smarter not harder and kill it

Obama- would be the fast guy on the team that wouldn't get along with anyone else , and had a ton of talent

Jackson- the tough guy grinder

GWB- your go to guy who would always come through even after a night of beers

James Madison- This guy was small , he could probably fly around the course.

Bottom five because of corpulence

Taft

Cleveland

McKinley

Harding

Umm...let's say LBJ

Bottom five because of age and decrepitude

Harrison (the first)

Jackson (he was very Old Hickory)

Reagan

Taylor

Buchanan

Any one of those Smith Bros. dudes --let's say Hayes

Couldn't walk, let alone run

FDR

Liver was shot

Grant

Bush is so dumb he can't even figure out whether his watch is working. Look at his expression.

whatyagot wrote:

--Teddy Roosevelt was a fitness fanatic and boxer, though apparently also asthmatic. Would he get to use an inhaler?

.

You know who else had asthma? Former Kansas Representative Jim Ryun.

The fact that Carter collapsed in a six miler in hot weather in the D.C. area doesn't sway me, because those are very tough, humid conditions, and the course was hilly, near Camp David, I think. He ran 10:17 2M xc in college with no prior team running, which are better credentials than any other president.

Carter

Obama (basketball gets you in decent running shape, and he is half-Kenyan)

TR, relatively young and used to hiking long distances, and had been in great shape when younger

Lincoln, that 19th c. toughness and hard life kicks in

Washington, used to the long tough military march

In general without knowing the particulars, you want to favor the 19th and 18th century president because they lived a far tougher existence and weren't ferried everywhere they went. They'd be in much better overall shape than recent presidents.

Ford--thirty years removed from the athlete of 1944 and clumsy

Reagan--too old and suffering dementia by 1986

GW Bush--a cheater, can't trust those times, and anyway a 3:44:52 8 years before his presidency doesn't say much.

Kennedy--a bad back kills your running as I found out last Christmas

Taft--likely candidate to come in last; they made a special bathtub big enough to fit him

Grant--probably would have been a fine runner but I have no evidence on that

Grant ran Robert E. Lee back to the a$$ end of Virginia.

My father ran against Bush Sr. when Bush Sr. was at Yale. My father, who held a small New England college record (I don't remember the distance) says that Bush smoked him in a 440.

1)FDR

2)George Bush Sr.

3)Andrew Jackson

4)Herbert Hoover

5)Richard Nixon

Histriclian wrote:

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

Well if it was the Russkys I doubt anyone would beat Putin - the guy is ripped (by world leader standards).

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

Bush is so dumb he can't even figure out whether his watch is working. Look at his expression.

Couldn't help yourself. Had to take a cheapshot. Politics aside, Bush 43 ran and biked throughout time as president and must have been good shape for a man 55-65 years old.

Abe Lincoln also hunted vampires so don't be so quick to dismiss him.

george w. is not the moron he's often made out to be. he had plenty of savvy and machine and legacy behind him or not he was a two-term president.

seemed to be an okay runner, but i'd hope for better in our nation's history.