Mauricio Codocea
11/07/2020 19:18
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 11/07/2020 7:18 PM
Despite being Donald Trump's opponent in the electoral race, when talking about the role that American sports played on the way to the elections, the name of Joe Biden was practically not mentioned.
It made a lot of sense: the candidate at that time did not have much to do in that conflict while knowing that he had the support of a large part of the sports environment, especially that with a majority of members of the black community and with the NBA at the helm. .
That does not imply that the president-elect of the United States is a stranger to sport.
On the contrary, his campaign even featured a sports tonic in one of his videos, in which empty stadiums and two short sentences were shown: "Trump left the United States in the bank. We are going to play again."
The future president is very adept at sports, a great consumer and was at the time a promising talent in American football, although he also played baseball and, above all, found a way to improve himself in sports.
As a student at Archmere Academy, which he attended in Claymont, Delaware, Biden recalled in his memoirs "Promises to Keep: In Life and in Politics" that it was the field where he felt best when it came to expressing himself. , something that sounds curious today in the case of a man who embarked on such an adventure but who has great sense to know his past.
Joe Biden, top right, wearing his football team's number 30 jersey.
Joe Biden, second from left, with his baseball teammates.
Photo The Daily Pennsylvanian
"Just as I lacked confidence in my verbal communication, I always had confidence in my athletic ability. Sports were so natural that talking wasn't. Sport was my ticket to acceptance. What's more, I was very difficult to be intimidated. in a game so even when he stuttered, he was always the one asking for the ball, "Biden wrote in his book, published in 2008.
"'Who takes the last shot?'
'Give me the ball.' We need a touchdown. 'Give it to me.' I would be about eight years old, I was often the smallest on the court, but I wanted the ball. And they gave it to me, "recalled the now 46th president. North American.
"I didn't let stuttering get in the way of the things that really mattered to me. I was small, I was tiny, but I made up for it by showing that I had guts," Biden was proud to write his memoirs.
Playing football wasn't just good for him.
Also to the school team, which improved their records from previous seasons.
Even one of the local newspapers cataloged him in an article that served as a preview of the 1960 season as "one of the best receivers on the team."
The Archmere boys hadn't even won more than two games per year in the previous 12 championships, but that season ended with 8 wins, no losses and the conference title.
With 60 points, Joe Biden became one of the young scorers in the state of Delaware.
A clipping from a local newspaper from the 1960s that highlights Joe Biden as a football player.
In all these years it was common to see him in the annual meetings with his former colleagues or also meeting to eat with those who still live in the areas of Philadelphia or Wilmington.
At one time, the now president even paid for everyone.
With less success, Biden played at the University of Delaware and eventually dropped out of sports to embark on his professional and political career, but he never abandoned his passion for various disciplines.
Thus, it is common to see him in games for the Phillies, the Philadelphia baseball team (his wife is from that city, in addition to being himself from Pennsylvania), which curiously won his second and last World Series title in 2008, when Biden became vice president of the Barack Obama administration.
In this discipline, however, he also has sympathy for the historic New York Yankees, the team that his grandfather encouraged.
Hey @Phillies, here's to hoping we both win big this fall.
Stay safe.
#OpeningDay pic.twitter.com/nGtdDVsrXv
- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 23, 2020
Biden also enjoyed winning the Super Bowl by the Eagles, the city's football team that surprised and won the NFL title in 2018 against the New England Patriots.
And despite having little to do with soccer, she got involved by attending, for example, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, supporting the United States' candidacy to host the 2022 World Cup and even siding with the players of the women's team, threatening the US federation with withdrawing its support to collaborate with funds for the 2026 World Cup if they did not start to charge the same as the men's team.
Interestingly, although it was the NBA that gave him the most support - without even mentioning it, since the direct confrontation was with Trump - Biden does not have such a close relationship with any team in the league, not even with the Philadelphia 76ers, as it happens with the franchises of their favorite disciplines.
Joe Biden, at the celebrations for the Super Bowl won by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018.
However, he owes good support to her and it can already be taken for granted that under his administration the traditional visit of the champions to the White House will be held again, something that did not happen in recent years after the confrontation between the players, coaches and the outgoing president.
There are even those who foresee that, in addition to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, there will be "retroactive" visits from the Golden State Warriors, who refused to go see Trump in 2017 and 2018 (in 2019, the champions were the Canadians Toronto Raptors).