Politics is so often compared to sports because the two activities have so much in common, including recruiting players/candidates, scouting the other team/opposition research, getting your own team psyched up/speeches and rallies, even trash talking/negative ads. And after the game/election, there’s always a winner and a loser.

Americans love competitors, but they usually don’t like losers. Losing is a painful, humiliating experience. The fear of failure has kept many a starting quarterback and candidate up late at night. Actual failure means going over the same plays/campaigns over and over again, trying to figure out exactly where you went wrong, knowing you probably blew the biggest opportunity of your lifetime — in public.