Could there be a President Jeter? President Brady?

I ran across an interesting sentence in Sports Illustrated last week when I was reading an article about the Kansas City Royals. The piece took place in the future and was a “look back” at 2011 when the Royals were bad. The article was clearly meant to trumpet the arrival of the young Royals prospects, but the one line in question was “back when President Jeter was still the shortstop for the Yankees.” I wondered to myself if that was even possible.

Could a modern-day athlete go on to hold the office of the President of the United States?

We have seen throughout the last few decades that some athletes have gone on to seats in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. Heath Shuler, the former Tennessee Volunteer QB and first round Washington Redskins draft pick is currently a Congressman from North Carolina. J.C. Watts was a long-time Congressman after leading the Oklahoma Sooners to a national title. Tom Osborne, the former Nebraska head coach and current AD took a break in between each gig to serve in the House for six years. Bill Bradley served in the Senate for three terms. But it seems the Senate and the House might be the cap as far as former athletes go. The highest a “real” athlete has ever gotten was perhaps when Congressman Jack Kemp was named to Bob Dole’s ticket as a VP candidate. He of course did not win.

Could any current athletes really have a chance at becoming the President of the United States? Before you tell me to get serious because people would never vote for someone that perhaps is just sizzle with no substance or someone possibly overmatched for the job simply using a famous name, I would point to the current and the previous POTUSes. America loves a “rock star” candidate (See: Obama, Barack) and they like it when the candidate surrounds himself with worthy advisors (See: Bush, George W). Don’t forget that Minnesota elected a WRESTLER as its governor.

Crazy things can happen. You are telling me that if Tom Brady or Peyton Manning wanted to run for office, they wouldn’t receive some serious numbers? Maybe it is a bit past his prime, but wouldn’t Michael Jordan have earned some serious numbers on election night? America seems to love Phil Mickelson.

I doubt any Atlanta-area athletes have a chance right now. Matt Ryan is too young and Jason Heyward may get there one day but he isn’t there just yet. I remember a time when Mark Richt could have run for governor of Georgia and won. Right now he is just hoping he won’t be impeached next off-season. Eye-popping results have happened before at the polls; we may in fact see President Jeter before all is said and done.