Issue 32: Sports

Featured Response: Will Leitch || Writer, Founder, Deadspin

Will Leitch

To me, the Obama presidency has the potential to do for politics, and government, what Bill James and statistical analysis did for baseball. As documented in “Moneyball,” baseball was once run by a cadre of people who made “gut decisions” based on anecdotal evidence and emotion. But when Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s realized they didn’t have the money to spend with other teams, they plunged into statistical analysis, you know, actual fact-gathering and study. They did this out of necessity. Now, baseball is full of people who are smart about numbers and facts; they don’t rely on their gut any more. They actually study issues at hand and make decisions based on empirical data.

After eight years of “gut decisions,” it’s clear that it doesn’t work, or at least not if you rely ONLY on your gut. Obama rose to power out of study and logic, but he didn’t do it to be altruistic: He did it because he had to, because he had no way to win otherwise. Perhaps, as in baseball, all will follow his lead, and we’ll have a culture of intelligence rather than mock machismo. If it can work in baseball, can’t it work in politics?

Will Leitch is a contributing editor at New York Magazine and founder of Deadspin. He is the author of three books, including God Save The Fan, out in paperback this month.

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Explore and respond to the issues that matter to you.

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Featured Response: David Gensler || The Keystone Design Union

# 5: Public Health

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# 1: Climate Change

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# 22: Disabilities

Featured Response: J. Glen House, M.D. || Disaboom.com

# 42: Theatre

Featured Response: Adam Feldman || New York Drama Critics’ Circle

# 24: Gun Control

Featured Response: David B. Kopel || Independence Institute

Inaugural Insight

  • The inauguration for the first U.S. president, George Washington, was held on April 30, 1789 in New York City.
  • Should January 20 be a Sunday, the President is usually administered the oath of office in a private ceremony on that day, followed by a public ceremony the following day.
  • Immediately following the oath, the bands play four ruffles and flourishes and "Hail to the Chief", followed by a 21-gun salute from howitzers of the Presidential Salute Battery.
  • The inaugural celebrations usually last ten days, from five days before the inauguration to five days after.
  • Since Thomas Jefferson's second inaugural on March 4, 1805, it has become tradition for the president to parade down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.
  • According to tradition, in the first inaugural, President Washington added the words "so help me God" when reciting the oath, although there is no contemporary evidence of this.
  • In 1977, Jimmy Carter started a new tradition by walking from the Capitol to the White House, although subsequent presidents have only walked part of the way for security reasons.
  • The War of 1812 and World War II forced two swearing-ins to be held at other locations in Washington, D.C.
  • The new President assumes power at noon on January 20th, regardless of whether or not he has actually taken the oath of office.
  • There is no requirement that any book, or in particular a book of sacred text, be used to administer the oath, and none is mentioned in the Constitution.

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