Baller-in-Chief

(From the Pocono Record)

What we must remember about Mr. Obama is that he is our first basketball president.

Incoming president Barack Obama has a long list of things he wants to accomplish once he officially moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave on Jan. 20.

One of those, which is more a wish than a goal, is that he’d like to see a playoff in major college football.

Mr. Obama has a better chance of getting his suddenly controversial economic stimulus package through Congress by Valentine’s Day than he does of changing the bowl system.

First off, he’ll put more time and energy into creating jobs than he will making sure that the best team wins college football’s crown jewel, which is as it should be.

Also, it’s much easier to negotiate with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell than Bowl Championship Series coodinator John Swofford — the Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner — and the chamber of commerce types who run the bowls.

The bowls are a cash-cow for the communities that host them, the schools and conferences that play in them and the NCAA, the governing body of college sports.

What we must remember about Mr. Obama is that he is our first basketball president.

We’ve had football presidents (Kennedy and Nixon come to mind) and baseball presidents (both Bushes), and let’s not forget that Clinton and Carter are from the Deep South where football is not only king but also the queen of the sports ball, but Obama is our first basketball president.

He hails from Chicago, where hoops is the game of choice in the inner city, not some small town in Texas or Georgia.

A decent player and an avid basketball fan, Obama has grown up watching a sport that he tries to mimic in his political life — straightforward with no political nonsense, just settle it on the court, which is exactly what the NCAA Basketball Tournament does.

It must be frustrating for him to watch college football, where in almost any given year a few teams can lay claim to being the best team after the bowl season. Texas and Southern Cal have legitimate gripes this year, while Utah can complain all it wants and file a lawsuit, but no one really believes that the Utes can play with the Gators — why do you think Urban Meyer left Utah after two years for the national-championship swampland of Gainesville, Fla.?

If Mr. Obama does wade his toes into the deep and treacherous waters of big-time college football, he’ll find that while Washington has enough pork to feed 100 senators, the college football bowl system has enough to give seconds to every fan who attended Thursday night’s championship game.

But even if the money side of the bowls could be worked out — and it probably never will — and a playoff format that is palatable to university presidents can be cooked up, a playoff system will be a hard sell for another reason.

Football coaches, especially the ones who don’t have a chance of winning the title that year, love the bowls.

It’s a reward for a 6-6 or 7-5 team, but there’s a lot more to it.

Take Notre Dame, for example. At 6-6 in the regular season, with an embarrassing loss to Syracuse, the Irish had no business playing in a bowl, but they qualified by winning just six games against major college opponents.

Lesser bowls clamored over the thought of landing Notre Dame, with its fat-cat alumni bringing in much needed money to the community and television giving that community free PR.

And Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis wasn’t about to say no to a bowl game.

College coaches, especially ones who aren’t playing in BCS bowls, want to play in those lesser games because it gives them a couple extra weeks of practice.

The outcome is important, but getting an early look at underclassmen for next year’s team is just as important for a 6-6 team as beating Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl.

Mr. Obama is going to score wins and suffer losses in Washington, all politicians know that.

The really astute ones know which battles are non-winners before jumping into the fray.

This is one he should stay away from.