Unlike Obama, Donald Trump won't fill out a March Madness bracket
If you hadn't realized by now, Donald Trump and Barack Obama are very different people. Here's your latest evidence.
Trump will pass on Obama's annual tradition of filling out an NCAA March Madness bracket, the Washington Post reports. Obama, a basketball fanatic, made his predictions with ESPN each of his eight years in office.
When ESPN invited Trump to complete a bracket on-camera, the White House declined, but expressed interested in working with ESPN down the road, according to the Washington Post.
This shouldn't come as a surprise for anyone who's watched Trump's early interactions with the world of sports. Sure, during his first month in office he's played golf and touted the New England Patriots, even (correctly) predicting them to win the Super Bowl.
But take a look at how his Super Bowl viewing party differed from Obama's.
One looks like a posh wedding. One looks like the ultimate sports viewing experience.
It's still early, but Trump doesn't appear to be the sports fan Obama is.
Obama embraced American sports perhaps more than any other president before him. Of course, he went about the customary traditions of his predecessors — throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game, inviting championship teams to the White House — but Obama took his passion for sports even further.
In addition to his men's March Madness bracket, he also filled one out for the women's tournament. He stayed aboard Air Force One for 10 minutes to watch the 2016 NBA Finals conclude. He could shake hands and talk shop with every member of a team, even throwing in the occasional trash talk.
He tuned in for the nation's biggest games, like the Women's World Cup Final in 2015.
So many times, when politics and sports collide, it feels like a publicity stunt. But with Obama, he genuinely seemed to be just another sports nut. His fandom gave him everyman appeal. Some say he used that as a campaign prop.
Prop or not, it worked.
The jury's still out if Donald Trump will do the same. To his credit, though, Trump's busy first month in office hasn't left many chances to interact with the world of sports.
But with the Super Bowl over and Trump passing on a March Madness bracket, the early results don't look so good.
Topics Barack Obama Donald Trump
