At Least One Victory Will Be Celebrated At Invesco This Year

This has never been a political blog, and that's not about to change anytime soon. Every once in a while, though, the world of sports finds a confluence with the sphere of democracy. And today's announcement that Barack Obama will move his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president from the Nuggets' gym to the Broncos' stadium deserves a nod.

While most of the Democratic convention will take place at the Pepsi Center, Obama's acceptance speech will move across I-25 to Invesco, where almost four times as many can witness it. Whether you're an Obama fan or not, you must admit that this move reflects the massive interest in this campaign and this year's election. The last time a similar move was made, in fact, was 1960, when John Kennedy relocated from the LA Sports Arena to the Coliseum to accept his nomination.

The big question, of course, is what impact will this have on the Broncos' season? Will Obama's message of change inspire the local gridders and propel them to greatness? Or will the AFC's establishment--the Patriots, Colts and Chargers--maintain the status quo and give us four more years of boring old sameness?

Let's look at what Kennedy did for the other tenants of the Coliseum first. USC went 4-6 in 1960, a miserable mark. But that season was the Trojans' first under head coach John McKay. USC won the national title in 1962 with a perfect 11-0 mark and followed that with championships in '68, '72 and '74.

Now ask not what the Dodgers can do for you, but what you can do for the Dodgers. They spent the 1960 season at the Coliseum while their home in Chavez Ravine was under construction. Kennedy's speech at the Coliseum took place on July 15, when the team was 42-38. They went a respectable 40-34 down the stretch to finish 82-72, which in the pre-divisional, pre-wild card days was good for only fourth in the National League (13 games behind Bill Mazeroski and the Pirates). But good things were afoot for the Dodger franchise. They set an all-time NL attendance record of 2,253,887 in the goofily-configured Coliseum. And their roster included a pair of pitchers named Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, who would lead them to World Series victories in '63 and '65.

Can we credit Kennedy with the success of USC football and Dodger baseball in the 60s and 70s? This is an unregulated Internet publication, we can say or do whatever the fuck we want. Yes we can. Now could a single speech by a candidate who goes on to become President of the United States inspire a football team to transcend its natural crappy circumstance and make the playoffs? That's asking a bit much. I think it will be easier to pull out of Iraq or institute a viable national health policy than it will be to get these Broncos to rush or protect the passer.

What's really important is the dumb trivia associated with all of this stuff. Did you know that this is the third presidential election out of the last five that will pit lefties against each other? Both Obama and John McCain are southpaws. Same was true in '96, although Bob Dole was only a lefty due to war injuries suffered to his right arm. And in 1992, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot were all left-handed, a fluke that has as much chance of occurring again as a Broncos victory in Super Bowl XLIII.
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