Donald Trump’s UFC extravaganza won’t be the first athletics contest on grounds at the White House.
Among the many that have been staged there, I was on hand for one, back in 2002, a tee-ball game involving little leaguers from our home base in Waynesboro and East Brunswick, N.J.
The little leaguers in question on that ungodly hot summer day played a version of the game called Challenger Baseball.
Challenger Baseball is an adaptive baseball program for kids with physical and intellectual challenges.
Our game was one of 20 tee-ball games that George W. Bush hosted during his eight years in the White House.
Trump seems to think he’s going to get 25,000 UFC fans on the grounds to watch people with tattoos on their tattoos knock each other senseless, choke each other out, or more likely, avoid doing anything of anything resembling danger for as long as possible – the latter is usually how a UFC fight goes.
The tee-ball games were a bit more subdued than a UFC Fight Night will be.
Aside from the president, a few dignitaries – Cal. Ripken Jr. was the honorary commissioner for our game – and family members, the only other people there were us local media types, confined to an area behind the left-field fence, which was about 100 feet from home plate.
Funny aside: it had to be a million degrees there on that Sunday afternoon, but it was the White House, so I was wearing a suit and tie.
At some point in the third inning, my press pass had fallen behind my tie, prompting an eagle-eyed Secret Service agent to caution me:
“If they,” he said, pointing to the roof of the White House, where, at this moment, for the first time, I noticed the infamous snipers, “can’t see your pass, they assume you’re not authorized to be here.”
Message received: I made sure the pass was visible at all times the rest of the afternoon.
Twenty-five thousand alcohol- and drug-addled MAGA UFC fans might be a challenge, in that respect.
It would only take one person using the event as an excuse to make good on somebody’s bad intentions to make things interesting for world politics.
If I was concerned about the guy, I’d suggest, maybe, Mr. President, host a tee-ball game for kids with physical and intellectual challenges instead.
Knowing our asshole president, he’d just use the occasion to make fun of the kids and their parents for being suckers and losers.
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Chris Graham
