Friday, January 17, 2014

Christie, Never an Ex-Jock


Online big, braying heads from left and right, from pretending to be real news (Fox) to pretending to be pretend news (Stewart), one phrase in NJ Gov. Christ Christie's saga of a news conference got chuckles and guffaws all around. In his pretense that he knew nothing of the GW Bridge mess before it happened, he started with, "I was done with my workout yesterday morning and got a call from my communications director at about 8:50, 8:55, informing me of this story that had just broken on the Bergen Record website."
[If you're nitpicky or masochistic enough, you can get the transcript at the WaPo here. ]
The risibility trigger was the single word workout. The underlying justification is that because is visually is such a porker, he can't really work out, can't be anything like a jock.
I have no doubt that in his Christie brain, he remains as much an athlete as he was in school. He may weigh twice as much and jiggle like a twerker (except on top) when he moves, but his mind and body remember. He'll always be a jock to himself.
In fact, he reinforced that in answering a question in the conference about his HS chum David Wildstein, who seems to have done the bridge dirty deed. In trying to distance himself from his until-that-day great buddy, Christie said he didn't know him much in school, that they ran in different circles, that "You know, I was the class president and athlete."
Here again, he surely was the only person in the room who considered himself an athlete, but he thinks, says and acts it.
christorsoWe can get into how he might be strong and even quick, despite his rotundity. In his gymnasium (don't think of the origin of that word as running naked), he could well lift more and run longer at a faster pace on a treadmill than younger, scrawnier sorts. Fat does not preclude fit. 
The important aspect is that his being still is that of a jock. His pubescent identity remains and defines him. He has the poise and confidence of a competitor who has been successful an strutted his stuff in front of thousands, in his case as varsity catcher on the baseball team — not bad training for being a politician, confidence, arrogance, accomplishment, control of the situation. 
As a disclaimer, I was also an athlete in high school and into college (until a gruesome auto wreck cut that short in the sophomore year). I identify with the benefits of team sports and understand how you don't outgrow that anymore than you would if you were a cheerleader or even a U.S. Marine. 
To worry the cheer leader example a bit (and putting aside that G.W. Bush was one), cheerleaders keep key attributes they had or picked up in the process. The former cheerleaders I know are, well, cheery. They have that people-person persona. They push those around them to succeed...with them. In other words, they make good real-estate agents, PR or marketing types, and other best-food-forward optimists. They smile a lot and many have kept their version of blonde hair. They are still cheerleaders at 40, 50 and beyond.
We all supposed are who our parents were, what we eat, what we wear, and many other nature and nurture background factors. I remain convince though that what we've done, particularly in high school and college push its way out of our insides our whole lives. 
Much is made of the nerds in high school, the bookworm introverts and such who stay that way. That is even more true for the jocks and cheerleaders. In Gov. Christie's case, I suspect his crouched glories as catcher have defined him immutably. 
As this bridge scandal inevitably expands and splatters him, let' s see how many times he alludes to athleticism and his former glories. Jon Stewart may snort, but there is a jock inside the massive pol who won't be denied.
Cross-post: Because this is personal as well as political, it appears in Harrumph! as well. 

No comments: