Snoop Dogg, Tim Walz show that having fun is a winning game plan

Two unlikely stars in recent weeks have delighted all ages with their joyful cheerleading for Team USA — NBC’s Olympic-gold star Snoop Dogg and America’s favorite new football coach, Tim Walz.

Like an NFL draft pre-show, political commentators handicapped the strengths and vulnerabilities of top recruit Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz before Vice President Kamala Harris officially picked him as her running mate, as the Olympics were in full swing.

Former high school football coach Walz’s rallies brought competitive spirit, huge crowds and contagious chants of “U-S-A” to cable news channels, providing a charming split screen with Snoop’s pure encouraging energy supporting American athletes in their pursuit of gold.

These guys are loving their star turn — but they’re not hogging the limelight for themselves. The genius of Snoop as a sports commentator is in his unabashed enthusiasm for the athletes. He’s equal parts impressed hype man and encouraging big brother to the athletes, showing viewers the inside story of the newer or more complicated events.

Walz plays a similar role in the presidential race — hyping up Kamala Harris and fighting back against bullies who have gone unchallenged for far too long. It’s like he’s been waiting to take on Donald Trump for years, stockpiling replies and witty comebacks to use at just the right time. Well, it’s the right time, and Tim Walz is having a blast. Walz and Snoop have shown us how much fun it is to cheer for the winning team and to be your teammate’s biggest champion.

Ratings and social media love may prove NBC made the right choice with Snoop as a correspondent at the Olympics, but a late-night chat with The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay shows Snoop knew it all along: “This opportunity wasn’t nothing but a chance for me to show the world what it’s supposed to look like when you put the right person in the right environment,” Snoop said. Judging by capacity crowd sizes, massive fundraising and surprising viral moments, all signs indicate that Harris knew the “right person” to help her beat Trump in November was a Midwestern football coach with an infectious spirit, laid-back competitiveness and gold-medal smile.

Snoop and Walz’s sartorial choices are all part of the fun. Snoop’s red-white-and-blue tracksuits and Olympic ring sunglasses alongside Coach Walz’s weekend casual Carhartt and camo cap — it’s all very patriotic, personal and relatable. On the campaign’s merch store, the Harris-Walz camo hat caught fire — can’t say Snoop’s dressage wear will do the same, but his patriotic accessories sure have.

Walz takes pride in winning more than just elections and state championship football games — when pointing out the Republican Party’s dangerous refusal to regulate firearms, he told a crowd of more than 15,000 people in Arizona last week that as a congressman he was the top gun in the congressional trap shoot for three years in a row. Reminiscent of Turkey’s silver-medal-winning shooter, it’s not hard to imagine Walz in old jeans and a worn T-shirt while other members of Congress rip the tags off stiff new gear from Bass Pro Shops to play act the role.

While the rest of us have been dragging ourselves through the next day after staying up late watching Olympics recaps or 11 p.m. coverage of packed Harris-Walz rallies, adrenaline has kicked in for these guys. Right out of the gate at his first rally with Harris, Walz told the packed house in Philadelphia, “We’ll sleep when we’re dead.” It’s hard to stop when you’re having this much fun squeezing the most out of the moment — Snoop says: “This ain’t the time to sleep. It’s the time to be on it like you want it.” Well, whether it’s gold in women’s soccer or the election of the first woman president, we want it.

With the Olympics closing ceremony behind us, Snoop and his upbeat summer vibes have passed the baton to happy warrior Walz for the sprint through to November. In his late-night interview with the WSJ, Snoop’s words about America’s potential for gold when flag football comes to the 2028 games sounded an awful lot like a Walz warning about a Trump/Vance future: “We should have an advantage in America,” Snoop said, chuckling. “Come on man. Don’t send the wrong people out there.”

Whether they’re barnstorming Paris or battleground swing states, Snoop and Walz have helped us all cheer for America with new enthusiasm — bringing the whole family together to praise our athletes, embrace our strengths and cheer together for victory. It’s been exhilarating, it’s been inclusive and yes, it’s been joyful. And you get the very real feeling, as Snoop says, that the fun really is just “me being me.” Both men are having the time of their lives and we are all feeling it.

Martha McKenna is a Baltimore-based Democratic media strategist. She wrote this for the Baltimore Sun.