The Games Presidents Play provides a new way to view the American presidency. Looking at the athletic strengths, feats, and shortcomings of our presidents, John Sayle Watterson explores not only their health, physical attributes, personalities, and sports IQs, but also the increasing trend of Americans in the past century to equate sporting achievements with courage, manliness, and political competence.

From the opening pitch of the baseball season to presenting awards to Olympic champions, our sports culture asks the president to play an increasingly active role. Sports, Watterson argues, open a window into the presidency, shedding light on presidential behavior and offering new perspectives on the office and the sporting men--and women--who have and will occupy it.

John Sayle Watterson is an adjunct assistant professor of history at James Madison University. He is the author of College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy, also published by Johns Hopkins.

"Sports historian Watterson suggests that presidents' athletic endeavors reveal a lot about their actions in office . . . An enjoyable study of politics and culture."--Publishers Weekly

"A wry and perceptive work."--Booklist

"With a presidential campaign on the horizon, Watterson introduces an intriguing way of evaluating presidential fitness for office--and opportunities for sports fans to try out for the job of pundit."--Richmond Times-Dispatch

"[Watterson] documents the link between sports and the Presidency well and even credits Theodore Roosevelt with 'the twentieth-century sporting presidency.'"--ESPN, ESPN.com

"It is the closest thing to the definitive work on the subject yet produced, and likely will remain so for quite some time."--Journal of American Culture