To ensure that Obama would not take off on Bryant after the basketball game, Bryant grabbed his watch and when the then-Senator looked for it when he was done playing, Bryant was right there dangling it in front of him.
In this particular edition of Real Sports, the correspondents of the Emmy Award-winning sports news magazine sat with Bryant Gumbel to discuss the Year in Review. All of Real Sports correspondents were on hand, Jon Frankel, Mary Carillo, Bernard Goldberg, host Bryant Gumbel, Andrea Kremer and Frank Deford. No new stories were produced for this edition, this was just a discussion with highlights of the stories.
Bryant wore a very strange suit for this discussion, it defies description, but there was no beard.
For this edition, Bryant asked several questions of the reporters and to remind you, I’ll either copy and paste my review of the story, or in the case of the May, October and November editions, I’ll link you to the story descriptions as I did not do a full-scale review in either of those months.
Let’s begin. First, Bryant asked the correspondents their favorite stories of the year.
Bryant’s favorite story was on Barack Obama. Done back in April, Bryant asked the then presidential hopeful what basketball meant to him.
Segment #1 – The Love of the Game
Reported by Bryant Gumbel, this segment focuses on Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (IL) and his love of sports. Two weeks ago on the campaign trail, Senator Obama showed that he could not bowl and the political pundits quickly jumped all over it. But while Obama did not win over the bowling community, past Presidents have shown their interests in athletics. Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush elder and junior have all been seen playing one sport or another, whether it be football, bowling, running, golf or baseball. Senator Obama’s interests go to another sport, basketball. So a month before Senator Obama’s exploits on the bowling lanes, Real Sports talked to him about hoops.
Gumbel asked him what was so special about basketball and the Senator said he can’t imagine more fun than playing in a pick up game, hitting shots. He also enjoys watching the game. Born to a Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, Barack grew up without a father starting from age 2. On his only visit to Hawaii, Barack, Sr. gave his 10 year old son a basketball and it would stay with him as he was growing up, coping with how to be a black man in America.
Gumbel then asked him what was it about basketball that helped him cope. Obama said basketball was a sport where blacks were not a minority. That on the court, being black gave him a level playing field. And he felt all those factors gave him a special feeling when he played. And basketball was a refuge for him. Obama mentioned that in the 1970’s, there were very cool players in the NBA such as George Gervin and his favorite, Julius Erving, Dr. J, whose poster Obama put up on his bedroom wall.
Obama immersed himself in the sport on the playgrounds of Hawaii and his school where he was only part of a handful of black students. Chris McLaughlin was the varsity basketball coach at Punahou School where Obama attended in Hawaii. Obama played on the varsity squad during his senior year in 1979 and it was the season that it won the State High School Championship. Coach McLaughlin called “Barry” Obama, a zonebuster, a player who could shoot from the outside.
Obama said his strength was not his jump shot, but his first step to the basket. He said he had speed to the basket. The Senator described himself as the 7th or 8th man off the bench. Obama said he and the coach had a difference of philosophy, but the coach’s philosophy, the Senator said, led the team to the championship. And Obama said it left him on the bench. Gumbel then stated that Obama was vocal about not getting playing time. As Obama reflected on that time, the Senator said the fact that he did not have a father to advise him, left him a bit out of control on the court. He was a playground player trying to fit in on the team and it led to conflict.
After high school, Obama went to college on the mainland where he lost touch with basketball and would not reclaim until he went to Harvard Law School. It was there he got to play pick up basketball and it was also where he started to court a young lawyer named Michelle Robinson who wanted her new man to pass a test. Craig Robinson, the newly named coach at Oregon, is Michelle’s brother. Craig, now Obama’s brother-in-law, said Michelle asked him to take him on the basketball court to see how good of a player Obama was. Craig said he could not let on that Obama was being tested and he worried that if Obama was a selfish player throwing elbows, he would have to report that to his sister. But instead, he was a team player, making passes at the right time, Craig said he understood the game and he was happy to report back to his sister. Obama joked that he passed the ball enough to Craig to prove he was a good guy.
While Obama says you cannot truly tell a person’s character from playing basketball, you can find out a few things. People who keep shooting despite not being able to shoot have a self-delusion about themselves.
Real Sports asked him to play a game of pick up basketball and he agreed to do so on March 19 (the 5th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq as it so happened) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he played with several troops.
Asked to assess his game now, Obama said he’s quick for a 46 year old. He could go past someone guarding him one-on-one, but he advised that it would be best to guard his jumper which he says has gotten worse since high school. And indeed, he showed the Real Sports cameras flashes of his youth by quickly driving to the basket. He also made several assists for baskets showing that he was a team player. Obama also showed some toughness defending the goal. And on game point, he drove to his left and scored the winning basket. Gumbel quickly told the Senator that he had four points, five assists, three rebounds, two turnovers, one steal and one block. Obama said that’s a well-rounded style. And he did admit that he cannot drive to his right.
Obama said there is something about basketball that connects the African American community in the same way that Jazz music connects with Black culture, an improvisation within a discipline that he finds very powerful.
But Craig Robinson, the former coach at Brown University, says his brother-in-law plays less of a so-called black game. He says Obama is a black man playing more “white” so not to get hurt. But Robinson admits after 35, everyone plays “white”.
The politics of basketball came into his campaign where Robinson went into New Hampshire, organizing 3-on-3 basketball games to recruit and register voters. Obama will do something similar in Indiana just before that state’s primary.
Gumbel asked Obama that his campaign is all about transcending race to the extent that the game is viewed as a black game. Is that counter to his message? Obama responded that they could have talked about football, but he joked that he was too skinny to play it. But football is linked to older Presidents. If Obama does get elected, he would be the first basketball player in the White House.
Asked if he would like to play George W. Bush one-on-one, Obama said he felt he could take him. He was not aware that there was a basketball court on the White House South Lawn. But if he did elected, he would put an indoor half court in the White House.
Grade – B
Bryant has a good anecdote on how he managed to talk to then-Senator Obama right after his pick-up basketball game. To ensure that Obama would not take off on Bryant after the basketball game, Bryant grabbed his watch and when the then-Senator looked for it when he was done playing, Bryant was right there dangling it in front of him. When Jon asked Bryant if he wanted to suit up to play Obama, Gumbel replied the thought never occurred to him.
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