(From Roger Runningen for Bloomberg Online)

U.S. President Barack Obama walks to his car with Secret Service Agents after a game of basketball with friends and aides on Nov. 26, 2010 at Fort McNair in Washington, DC. after he was injured during the game. Photographer: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama got 12 stitches in his lip after being injured yesterday during a basketball game, spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

“After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the president received 12 stitches,” Gibbs said in a statement. The stitches were administered by the White House medical unit.

Obama played basketball for about 90 minutes at a gym at Fort McNair in Washington yesterday. The injury to the president’s upper lip occurred in the fifth of five games when Rey Decerega, director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, turned to take a shot and elbowed Obama in the mouth.

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport,” Decerega said in a statement released by the White House. “I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.”

Also playing were Obama’s personal aide, Reggie Love, 29, a former college basketball player at Duke University; Education Secretary Arne Duncan, 46, who played in college on the Harvard University team and professionally in Australia; and family members and friends in Washington for Thanksgiving, according to the White House statement.

In treating the president’s upper lip, doctors used a smaller filament, which increases the number of stitches but makes a tighter stitch and results in a smaller scar, according to an e-mailed White House statement.

Obama, 49, received a local anesthetic for the stitches, the statement said.

Obama played basketball regularly during the 2008 presidential campaign and had a basketball court installed on the South Lawn of the White House. In addition to playing at Fort McNair, he plays at other local sites, including the Interior Department.

(From the Associated Press Online)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama needed 12 stitches in his lip after taking an errant elbow during a pickup basketball game today with a group of family and friends visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday, the White House said.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement that Obama was inadvertently struck by an elbow. The elbow’s owner wasn’t identified.

Obama received the stitches under local anesthesia in the doctor’s office on the ground floor of the White House after he returned home.

The president had traveled to nearby Fort McNair to indulge in one of his favorite athletic pursuits, basketball. It was a five-on-five contest involving family and friends and including Reggie Love, Obama’s personal assistant who played at Duke University.

Obama emerged from the building after about 90 minutes of play, wearing short-sleeve T-shirt and gym pants, and was seen dabbing at his mouth with what appeared to be a wad of gauze.

A few hours later, reporters who had gathered on the White House driveway for the arrival of the Christmas Tree saw the president in an upstairs window, pressing something white against his mouth.

Photo: AP

(From Abby Phillip for Politico.com)

12 stitches

A Thanksgiving weekend basketball game mishap Friday left President Barack Obama with a split lip and 12 stitches.

The president was elbowed in the mouth during a game with friends and family by Rey Decerega, who is the director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the White House reveled late on Friday.

Decerega, who played for the opposing team, turned into the president—who was playing defense—to take a shot and elbowed Obama in the lip during the last of five games at a gym at Fort McNair, a nearby Army base in Washington.

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport. I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning,” Decerega said in a statement. “I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.”

According to the press pool report, doctors gave the president a local anesthetic, then stitched his wound, using a smaller than normal medical filament, which required more stitches but will result in a smaller scar. The White House later clarified that the stitches were administered to the president’s upper lip.

“After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the President received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Obama was seen walking to the presidential motorcade with gauze to his mouth following the game, then watched from a window in the White House as first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia received the official White House Christmas tree later that afternoon.

Obama has no public events on his schedule until Monday.

The president, who has played hoops with elite players like the University of North.Carolina men’s team and assorted NBA all stars, frequently makes unannounced trips to play basketball or golf on weekends. On Monday Obama will attend meetings at the White House and on Tuesday, he will host congressional Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner, for the postponed bi-partisan leadership meeting.

(From Richard Wolf for The Oval at USA Today Online)

Obama gets 12 stitches after basketball action

President Obama holds his lip after getting an elbow during a basketball game Friday morning. He later received 12 small stitches at the White House under local anesthetic. Photo By Tim Sloan, AFP/Getty Images

Update at 5:30 p.m. ET: The man who (accidentally) elbowed President Obama in the face during a pick-up basketball game today — requiring a dozen stitches to the presidential upper lip — has come forward.

Rey Decerega, who is the director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, issued this statement:

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport. I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon,” Decerega said.

Update at 4:40 p.m. ET: Our colleague David Jackson reports that the White House has released more information:

The elbow to Obama’s lip “happened in the fifth of five games they played.”

The offending player, who remains nameless, “turned into POTUS, who was playing defense, to take a shot when the elbow hit the President in the mouth.”

Some of the players in today’s 5 v. 5 game–”none of whom were responsible for the elbow” to the president’s face–included Obama’s nephew Avery Robinson, Obama’s assistant Reggie Love and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Update at 2:45 p.m. ET: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president got 12 stitches in his lip in the basketball game this morning with Reggie Love and members of his family.

Gibbs’ statement said:

After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the President received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit.

Medical personnel used a smaller filament to close the wound than is typically used, the press office said.

That increases the number of stitches but makes a tighter stitch and results in a smaller scar. The president received a local anesthetic during the treatment.

Earlier post: Fresh from a big Thanksgiving dinner with family, friends and staff, President Obama awoke today and did what the rest of us should be doing: He got some exercise.

Given the wet weather in Washington, the choice this morning was an easy one. Rather than setting off for the golf links, Obama chose indoor basketball.

The president left the White House at 9:30 and is playing five-on-five at nearby Fort McNair with personal assistant and ex-Duke University hoops star Reggie Love, as well as family members in town for the holiday. No word on whether that includes Oregon State University head coach Craig Robinson, the brother of first lady Michelle Obama.

(From the Washington Post Online)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Miami’s slower-than-expected start is a talking point around the NBA. Around the White House, too.

And the nation’s First Fan says the Heat will need time to reach their best.

President Barack Obama – who wasn’t thrilled that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade turned down the Chicago Bulls this summer – told ABC’s Barbara Walters that when it comes to the Heat, it would be prudent for fans to be patient.

“It takes some time for the team to come together,” Obama said. “There’s no ‘I’ in team. So no matter how good a player is, no matter how good a group of players are, if they haven’t played together before they are not going to be as good as a team that has played together a long time.”

The Heat dropped to 8-7 with a 104-95 loss in Orlando on Wednesday night.

(From Henry Abbott for TrueHoop at ESPN Online)

Matt Viser of the Boston Globe reports:

Obama will name Russell as one of the recipients of a 2010 Medal of Freedom, according to a White House official. He joins a range of others, including former President George H. W. Bush, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, philanthropist Warren Buffett, poet Maya Angelou, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

An announcement on the White House blog describes Russell’s accomplishments like this:

Bill Russell is the former Boston Celtics’ Captain who almost single-handedly redefined the game of basketball. Russell led the Celtics to a virtually unparalleled string of eleven championships in thirteen years and was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player five times. The first African American to coach in the NBA — indeed he was the first to coach a major sport at the professional level in the United States — Bill Russell is also an impassioned advocate of human rights. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has been a consistent advocate of equality.

When you put his biography like that, Russell seems like such a no-brainer for an honor of this magnitude.

Isn’t it funny, though, as a basketball fan, that it still feels a little strange to have the political establishment endorse the game, and its players, so profoundly? It’s not that they don’t deserve it, it’s that it’s still so new. The White House has been a place of baseball, by and large, and maybe some football. But this is a basketball White House, and it sure feels different to me, and, I suspect, to Bill Russell.

In any case, congratulations to the best winner in the history of the game, and a pioneer who encountered all manner of nastiness while maintaining every ounce of his dignity.

(From the White House Blog)

Announcing The 2010 Medal of Freedom Recipients

Bill Russell.

Today, President Obama named fifteen recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom — the Nation’s highest civilian honor — presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

“These outstanding honorees come from a broad range of backgrounds and they’ve excelled in a broad range of fields, but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture, and made our country and our world a better place,” said President Obama. “I look forward to awarding them this honor next year.”

[...]

Bill Russell is the former Boston Celtics’ Captain who almost single-handedly redefined the game of basketball. Russell led the Celtics to a virtually unparalleled string of eleven championships in thirteen years and was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player five times. The first African American to coach in the NBA—indeed he was the first to coach a major sport at the professional level in the United States—Bill Russell is also an impassioned advocate of human rights. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has been a consistent advocate of equality.

(From Jason Gay for The Wall Street Journal Online)

Wow, that was a fabulous birthday basketball game President Obama threw himself the other day. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Magic Johnson and Bill Russell. Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul.

Scott Baio and Noam Chomsky. Sally Quinn and the Arcade Fire. Warner Wolf and Joan from “Mad Men.”

Or something like that. Did anyone get a confirm on the president’s final roster? The dreamy White House contest was a closely guarded secret. The media were barred, tickets weren’t sold and nobody watched—it felt just like a Memphis Grizzlies home game.

But as Gilbert Arenas could tell you, you can’t hide zesty basketball gossip in D.C. A few details of the game have emerged. Here’s a run-down:

• Mr. Obama finished with 12 points and five rebounds. But the game’s highlight was a backboard-rattling windmill dunk over an embarrassed LeBron by recently retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. The dunk was beautiful, but Justice Stevens yelling “Boo-ya”? Priceless.

• The Knicks agreed to let Amar’e Stoudemire play but only if the Treasury and the World Bank offered to pay the rest of Eddy Curry’s contract.

• Even at 76, Mr. Russell totally dominated young Mr. Anthony, scoring 14 points. No, we’re just making a little joke there. Mr. Russell scored 52.

• At halftime, Mr. Anthony was traded to Russia along with six former KGB spies.

• In what’s surely the first of many oversights, Messrs. James and Wade forgot to tell Chris Bosh about the game.

• Laker veteran Derek Fisher delighted his teammates with wild anecdotes from a similar contest in 1955 with President Eisenhower.

• Mark Cuban didn’t watch the game but was still fined $100,000 by David Stern for thinking about it.

• Impressively, a well-lubricated fan in a Phillies T-shirt managed to sneak in and rush the court, whereupon he was Tasered by the Secret Service and picked up on waivers by the Red Sox.

• When Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov saw the lineup for the game, he angrily asked, “What is President Obama doing with my 2016 Nets roster?” whispered something intensely into his cuff, and was picked up within 15 seconds by a helicopter piloted by Mr. Stern and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Esti Ginzburg.

• Brett Favre was invited, but at the last minute he texted the president and told him he’d retired. Then he called an hour later and said he wasn’t retired. Then he called and said he would wait until his ankle is healed. Now Mr. Favre is in a secret prison, facing a 10-year sentence for annoying Earth.

• The White House reported that Kobe Bryant was there but didn’t play. This is untrue. Mr. Bryant played 10 minutes when he was fouled hard by Mr. Wade. Angered that Mr. Wade didn’t apologize, Mr. Bryant grabbed a PA microphone and cursed out all of the players, grabbed a pair of beers, slid down an emergency inflatable sled and disappeared.

• It goes without saying, but the president’s game couldn’t have been pulled off without the magic recruiting touch of recently hired Knicks consultant Isiah Thomas.

(From Ileana Morales for The Huffington Post)

WASHINGTON — It took one shout of “Who Dat!” to get the celebration started in the White House on Monday as President Barack Obama saluted the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

President Obama with Saints jersey. (Getty)

Obama congratulated the team, owner and coaches in an East Room ceremony. He said the team lifted up “the hopes and the dreams of a shattered city” in the wake of the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

The Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.

Obama said the Saints’ Super Bowl win was huge for New Orleans and for the country. He noted that after Katrina, the Saints had to play an entire season on the road because their home stadium, the Superdome, was ruined in the storm.

“Back then people didn’t even know if the team was coming back. People didn’t even know if the city was coming back,” Obama said.

Now, the president said, the Saints proved their team and city are here to stay.

Brees presented the 44th president with a No. 44 Saints jersey. The Chicago Bears fan joked he couldn’t get away with wearing it in Chicago.

Coach Sean Payton is also from Chicago.

“You’ve got to be tough to be a Chicago guy. I make some tough decisions every day, but I never decided on an onside kick in the second half of the Super Bowl,” Obama said.

The Saints took a risk using an onside kick – called ambush – against the Colts to open the second half of the championship game.

“I’m glad that thing went alright,” Obama said. Players and members of Congress and Obama’s Cabinet laughed.

Brees, in a previous White House visit, filmed a public service announcement to encourage kids to exercise for 60 minutes each day. The team spent the morning in Washington playing football with kids from the Boys and Girls Club. Later, they visited wounded troops and their families at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

“These are big guys with big hearts, and shoulders big enough to carry the hopes and dreams of an entire city with them,” Obama said.

Obama also talked about the BP oil spill, the latest disaster to hit the Gulf. He was optimistic about the battle to stop the flow of oil now that the leak appears to be plugged. His administration, he said, remains committed to the Gulf’s recovery.

The president said seafood from the Gulf is now safe to eat, and the White House served some this week. Team members showed off some of New Orleans’ famous cuisine. They served some shrimp to the White House press corps and were sharing recipes with White House staff, including, according to Obama, a 30-foot po-boy that was to be served at lunch.

But before lunch, there were autographs, silent cameraphone clicks and more cheers. Players standing on bleachers in the East Room snapped pictures of the president as he made his way around to shake their hands.

Then the Saints left the same way the came in – to claps, chants of “Who dat!” and the band playing their song.

(More photos.)

(From Shane D’Aprile for The Hill Online)

President Obama hosted more than a dozen current and former basketball pros Sunday for an afternoon game at Fort McNair.

The group included LeBron James, Grant Hill, Dwyane Wade, Joakim Noah (left), and Derrick Rose (center, with Obama). Magic Johnson and Bill Russell served as the coaches. Kobe Bryant was also in attendance, but didn’t play in the pick-up game.

The group played before an audience of “wounded warriors” and participants in the White House mentoring program.

The event was part of the president’s birthday weekend at the White House. He played a round of golf Saturday at Andrews Air Force Base and a barbecue is scheduled on the south lawn of the White House for Sunday afternoon.

(From The Huffington Post)

WASHINGTON — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and other NBA all-stars joined President Barack Obama on Sunday to entertain wounded troops.

The basketball superstars were joined by some retired legends, including Bill Russell and Magic Johnson. College player Maya Moore of the Connecticut Huskies women’s team also played.

The game was played for a group of “wounded warriors” – troops injured in action – and participants in the White House’s mentoring program.

The action took place at a gym inside Washington’s Fort McNair, a short drive from the White House. The president was inside the gym for about two hours.

(From Kiki Ryan for Politico.com)

Most past presidents have had a sport of choice: Richard Nixon loved to bowl and installed the White House bowling alley; Bill Clinton played golf; John F. Kennedy liked touch football; George W. Bush was a mountain biker. And while basketball may be thought of as President Barack Obama’s main game, a look at the first 18 months of his presidency (and a little bit before) reveals that he’s quite the athlete-in-chief — his wife and kids are pretty sporty, too.

Here, POLITICO takes a look at the Obamas’ sporting life.

Basketball:

Obama, a power forward, often shoots hoops on the South Lawn of the White House, where he had a basketball court specially installed. He’s played with his staff, including former Duke basketball player Reggie Love, his daughters, and members of his administration — like the 6-foot-5-inch Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The family has taken in a number of basketball games as spectators, too. Obama was at the Verizon Center in January to catch the Duke-Georgetown game (he even visited announcers in the CBS booth). Shortly after moving into the White House, he caught his hometown team, the Chicago Bulls, play the Washington Wizards at the arena. More recently, Obama had a basketball double-header: he caught Washington’s WNBA team, the Mystics, at the Verizon Center with Sasha (who wore the team’s jersey) after playing a game of his own with an Army team at Fort McNair.

Obama’s love of the game is apparently contagious. While in Los Angeles in June, the first lady took her mother and daughters to watch the Lakers play in Game Six of the NBA Finals. (Sasha and Malia brought home a jersey signed by Lakers coach Phil Jackson for Father’s Day.)

And don’t forget Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, the head coach at Oregon State University. The entire family watched the Beavers take on George Washington University in November.

Tennis:

Both FLOTUS and POTUS like to volley.

While appearing on “The Jay Leno Show” last October, Michelle told Leno that there’s nothing about Barack that bothers her, calling him “perfect.” Except for one thing: when he beats her at tennis. “He beats me quite often,” she said. “That gets to be pretty annoying.”

The competition between the couple most certainly comes out on vacation. Last month, while vacationing in Maine, the first family visited the Bar Harbor Club to hit the court. During their vacation last summer on Martha’s Vineyard, the family played on the private tennis court nestled into their rental property. In Hawaii last Christmas, the first couple played at the Kailua Racquet Club, too.

Daughters Sasha and Malia resisted tennis at first, Michelle Obama recently told Ladies’ Home Journal. “But now they’re starting to get better, and they actually like it,” she said.

When not playing with the family, Michelle has also played on several occasions with her chief of staff—and pal—Susan Sher. (And since we’re on the topic, her garden even contains tennis ball lettuces.)

Baseball:

Safe to say Obama’s arms are better at throwing up three-pointers than tossing out pitches. In April, President Obama threw the first pitch at Nationals Park “a little high and outside,” as he described it. Last summer, at the All-Star game, he also threw a ceremonial pitch: the ball barely made it to the plate.

Still, he’s a fan. Obama frequently wears Chicago White Sox gear—even when the Nationals are involved. He wore his Sox cap for his pitch in April; in June, he cheered on the South Side Chicago team, again wearing his cap, as they played the Nats.

Michelle Obama seems to like the sport too. She and Jill Biden joined Yogi Berra as he threw out the opening pitch at Game 1 of the World Series last year. FLOTUS has also visited Camden Yards in Baltimore, where she pitched and caught and hung out with kids at a “Let’s Move” event.

Golf:

Obama may not be as golf-crazed as some presidents, but as of last month, he’d played 41 rounds since taking office. During a two-month stretch earlier this year, he played golf eight out of nine weekends. While in Washington, he heads to the course at Andrews Air Force Base, often with White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson. And as with tennis, he uses his vacation time to play, too. He hit the green multiple times in Hawaii over Christmas and last summer in Martha’s Vineyard.

Soccer:

It’s fair to call Obama a soccer dad. He and Michelle are frequently spotted on the weekends cheering on both daughters, who play here in town.

Bowling:

Actually, let’s not go there. Who can forget Obama’s dismal game during the Pennsylvania primary, when he bowled a 37 with repeated gutter balls? That’s one sport Obama should drop.

(More Photos.)