It’s a fascinating rumor, but I’ll put more stock in it when I see some actual action like hiring staff, forming an exploratory committee, etc., not just word of a poll: Could Craig James, ESPN’s college football announcer, be running for the Senate in Texas?

One of the reasons I’m a bit skeptical is that people say, “Hey, that popular guy in the sports world should run for office” much more frequently than they actually run. Yes, there’s Bill Bradley, Jack Kemp, Heath Shuler, Lynn Swann, and now Jon Runyan. But there are a lot of rumors that never pan out; how many times have we heard Charles Barkley say he’s going to run for governor of Alabama?

Earlier in the year, I heard speculation that former Carolina Panther Mike Minter was thinking of running for the House of Representatives, but Minter said no. Speculation periodically surrounds former New England Patriot John Hannah, but nothing’s happened on that front, either.