While US President Barack Obama and Republican US presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaign ahead of Tuesday’s US elections, the NFL’s Washington Redskins could foretell the vote outcome today.
The so-called “Redskins Rule” has been a bellwether for presidential elections since the club moved to the US capital from Boston in 1937.
That fact will draw some extra attention to today’s Redskins home game against the Carolina Panthers. While the Redskins have struggled to a 3-5 record so far, the Panthers are a woeful 1-6.
In 17 of 18 US presidential elections, starting in 1940, the candidate from the party holding the White House won the presidency if the Redskins won their final home game before the election.
If the Redskins lost that contest, the candidate from the party not occupying the White House would claim an election victory.
So Obama backers will hope to see a Redskins triumph, while Romney supporters will be bolstered if Carolina upsets Washington.
The only time the method missed was in 2004, when the Redskins lost 28-14 to Green Bay and Republican former US president George W. Bush beat Democratic US presidential candidate John Kerry, although that anomaly could be explained by Bush’s 2000 election.
Democratic US presidential candidate Al Gore actually won the 2000 popular vote, but Bush won the presidency by collecting the most delegates in the electoral college, in which states are assigned delegates based upon population and the winner of the most delegates takes the election.
Bush won in 2000 only after the US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, halted a controversial recount of votes in Florida, upholding the original findings that handed Bush a narrow victory in the state and national election.
The Redskins Rule returned to order in 2008, when Washington lost 23-6 to Pittsburgh on election eve and the next day, with Bush in the White House, Obama defeated Republican US presidential candidate John McCain to claim the presidency.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set