Tisdel's Law

My experience has shown me that for whatever reason, people who love sports strongly tend to love politics as well. That may be partially a product of the competitiveness of each, or the fact that the linguistics of each tend to creep into the other (witness Newt Gingrich saying he's "at his best in the fourth quarter", or the name "Spygate" for Bill Belichick's videotaping scandal a few years ago), but those two demographics just tend to overlap strongly. It's been my observation that conversations between people astute in both areas tend to bleed over into one another, which leads me to Tisdel's Law. 

Weak application of Tisdel's Law: All conversations that begin by talking about politics will inevitably segue into talking about sports. (Jon King, moderating the GOP Presidential Debate last night, did it right at the start by mentioning he was rooting for the Patriots this weekend.)

Strong application of Tisdel's Law: No matter how they start, all conversations that begin with either politics or sports will end up incorporating the other field. 

Tisdel's Law has been demonstrated repeatedly during conversations within my friend group and political discussion group, the League of Informed Voters. (The name isn't mine, by the way; I believe my friend Dick gets credit for formally naming the phenomenon.) I'm currently trying to scrape together funds for a wider study. Tisdel's Law is predicated on my observations at the following places: Wooster, OH; Washington, D.C; Milwaukee, WI; and various televised coverage of Presidential candidates/Congressional races, all of which indicate that interest in politics and sports tend to go hand in hand. Tisdel's Law should not be used to place bets; any such responsibility is yours.