2016 Presidential Candidates & their Pro Athlete Counterparts

Taylor Gipple
Our Caucus
Published in
3 min readJan 7, 2016

Presidential candidates and professional athletes seem to have quite a bit in common: influence, money, power, and competitiveness. So that’s why I matched up some of this year’s presidential candidates with their professional athlete counterparts.

Marco Rubio & Tom Brady

Marco Rubio & Tom Brady: Both have a golden boy attitude, always seem to perform exceptionally well, and are/were both rising stars in their respective organizations. Lots of people love to hate them. Unless, of course, you’re on their team.

Hillary Clinton & Alex Rodriguez

Hillary Clinton & Alex Rodriguez are long time veterans of their field, having obtained elite status, but each have their fair share of scandals. A-Rod with his steroids and Hillary with her Whitewater and email controversies. However, organizations still want them playing for their team.

Jeb Bush & Greg Oden

Jeb Bush & Greg Oden were supposed to be future stars in their earlier days. In fact, very wealthy people invested millions of dollars in both of them. However, surprisingly they didn’t match up to the hype. They really don’t seem to be passionate about the game anymore and are just about ready for retirement.

Ben Carson & Jeremy Lin

Ben Carson & Jeremy Lin came out of nowhere to be flash in the pan stars, but suddenly and quietly faded into irrelevance. They seem to be really humble and intelligent, but aren’t a great fit in the leadership position.

Chris Christie & Warren Sapp

Chris Christie & Warren Sapp are guys who command the room, like to eat, and like to speak. They’ve had their fair share of successes as governor and Super Bowl champ, but have had mishaps like Bridgegate and domestic violence/hookers. These incidences seemed to hurt them enough to keep them out of true greatness.

Ted Cruz & Tim Tebow

Ted Cruz & Tim Tebow both wear their faith on their sleeve and have attracted a following for doing so. They were thought to maybe turnout as decent stars one day, but it just hasn’t really worked out for them. They both have a future in commentary though.

Bernie Sanders & Muhammad Ali

Bernie Sanders & Muhammad Ali: Both were underdogs in their first major fight and presidential run. They both were outspoken against wars, weren’t intimated by large opposition, and campaigned for racial justice. Ali and Sanders both attracted a group of passionate fans and also happen to be the same age, 74.

Donald Trump & Ndamukong Suh

Donald Trump & Ndamukong Suh are well known for their overly aggressive style of play. Both have had issues with sportsmanship, but are widely recognized as the top people in their positions right now. People are always worried about the next wild thing they might do or say. They also are worth boatloads of money.

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Taylor Gipple
Our Caucus

Des Moines native. Contributor: Dialogue & Discourse, Des Moines Register: Our Caucus, HuffPost. huffpost.com/author/taylor-gipple | medium.com/our-caucus