(From The Tuskegee News Online)

Freelance photographer Wendell Rogers worked with Brian Summers of Atlanta to have a basketball made with President Barack Obama’s name on the ball, along with the United States seal on it.

Summer’s wife, Jocelyn F. Summers, is the chief of staff for First Lady Michelle Obama.

“We got the idea, because of the president’s love for basketball,” Rogers said. “We thought how great would it be for him to have his own personal basketball.”

Rogers met Summers during a special photo shoot for Senator Obama in Atlanta before he was elected president.

(From The Biz of Baseball)

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here’s an example.

Wilson, the Official Glove of Major League Baseball, made this one-of-a-kind glove for President Obama that he used to make his ceremonial first pitch at Tuesday’s 80th All-Star Game in St. Louis. The glove is black with “Obama #44” written in script and includes an American flag. Following its [planned] use, the glove was authenticated by Major League Baseball and sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

(From John Taylor for the the Washington Times Online)

Interesting story today to come out of the Washington Wizards PR department. …

Gilbert Arenas is well known for his signed jersey collection, perhaps less so for his car collection. Now, he’s got a piece of history to add to his museum-size home in Great Falls, Va.

According to a release the team sent out this afternoon, Arenas donated $25,000 to Wizards Care, the team’s charitable arm, to acquire the autographed chair that President Obama sat in when his Chicago Bulls came to the Verizon Center on Feb. 27, 2009. The president autographed the back of the chair — ‘Gold North AAA Seat Number 2’ — after the Wizards win.

The charity had intended to open online bidding on the chair on Wednesday when Arenas came in with his “tremendous bid,” according to Wizards Senior Vice President of Community Relations Judy Holland. “It was our full intention to auction off this historic item to raise funds for Wizards Care. … Everybody is a winner because of Gilbert’s generosity.”

(From Johanna Neuman for The Los Angeles Times Online)

Baseball legend Willie Mays is traveling with the president on Air Force One from Michigan (where POTUS was pitching education) to St. Louis, the site of the ballgame. Hard to imagine they won’t talk technique.

He is known in some circles as the First Fan, a devotee of the Chicago Bulls, a president so passionate about sports that he went on ESPN a few months ago to announce his bracket predictions for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

But tonight, President Obama becomes the nation’s baseball guy, throwing out the first pitch at the All-Star game in St. Louis, and doing a half inning of sports commentary in the Fox TV anchor booth.

Lots of people are already giving him advice.

Baseball legend Willie Mays is traveling with the president on Air Force One from Michigan (where POTUS was pitching education) to St. Louis, the site of the ballgame. Hard to imagine they won’t talk technique.

Then there’s Cardinals all-star Albert Pujols, who’s slated to catch the president’s debut first pitch. During pregame interviews Monday, the Cardinals’ first baseman offered some advice to Obama.

“Lob it up there. Don’t try to be a perfect throw,’” Pujols said. “The worst thing, if you throw any first pitch, you don’t want to bounce it. That’s the advice that I’m going to give. Make sure that you don’t bounce it.”

Before leaving Washington, Obama was asked during an Oval Office meeting whether he’d been practicing. “I think it’s fair to say I wanted to loosen up my arm,” he said during a photo-op with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, adding that he’d been reminiscing about that Chicago White Sox game in 2005 when he threw out the first pitch.

“I just wanted to keep it high,” Obama recalled. “Now, there was no clock on it, I don’t know how fast it went. If it exceeded 30 miles per hour, I’d be surprised. But it did clear the plate.”

Pujols won’t be the only Cardinals hero on the field for Obama’s debut at a major league game. The six living Cardinals Hall of Famers — Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Red Schoendienst, Bruce Sutter and Ozzie Smith — will also be on hand.

And Obama won’t be the only president to make an appearance. All four living presidents — George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter — appear in a video that honors community service volunteers in a ceremony MLB is calling “All-Stars Among Us.”

As for Obama, according to Major League Baseball, he’ll be wearing a black glove specifically designed for him by Wilson. The glove includes “Obama #44″ written in script and an American flag. After the first pitch, the glove will be authenticated by MLB and sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

And that broadcast booth appearance? Fox’s Joe Buck says the president will make his cameo appearance in the bottom of the second inning. Buck promised no wild pitches about politics.

Photo: President Obama holds up a Philadelphia Phillies jersey given to him by Jimmy Rollins at the White House May 15, 2009, in Washington. Obama welcomed Major League Baseball’s 2008 World Champions to the White House. Credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images

(From David Arnott for The Sporting News Online)

eBay is full of gems, particularly when it comes to sports-related items. David Arnott brings you the best ones.

Traditionally, the President of the United States has been a football fan (Nixon) or a baseball fan (Bush I and Bush II). Barack Obama, though is the first president to openly declare basketball his favorite sport. Last fall, there was a minor wave of people buying replicas of Obama’s high school jersey. Now that he’s taken the next step in his career, perhaps it’s appropriate you can now get a different Obama jersey: Team USA.

There’s a long tradition of jerseys that have a joke name on the back or otherwise make fun of the concept of big time sports. There are also plenty of jerseys based on fictional characters. But there aren’t too many instances of fans projecting popular celebrities onto sports teams.

Sure, it’s a partisan gesture that qualifies as hostile in some quarters, but you can also pass it off as a statement of hierarchy. That the most powerful person on earth regularly plays the modern American game of the people is a flattening force that both brings him to us and us to him and the sport to a place we haven’t yet defined.

(From Christian Grant-Fields for Dime Magazine)

Barack O’Balla

The guys over at Hooplife sent us over a pair of their new ‘Barack O’Balla’ shorts. These basketball performance shorts are obviously an ode to our 44th prez Barack Obama and his love for hoopin.

I have to say I was pretty happy when I found out Obama played ball. I am not sure if he is that good or not but I respect the fact that he makes time, even being our Commander in Chief, to lace them up and get on the court.

I always admired those investment bankers who work those long weeks but on Saturdays at 8am they were on the court playing ball with me and my boys. Regardless of skill level, they are out there playing hard.

These shorts are available now at www.hooplife.net. Hit them up for more info…

(From Cardboard Connection)

Following the release of a Barack Obama themed trading card set, as well as the production of a plethora of different Barack Obama trading card inserts for their various sports card products, it would appear that Topps had explored every plausible Obama Trading Card Avenue, right?  Wrong.

Monday morning, Topps announced the release of yet another Obama themed trading card. This latest addition to Topps’ Obama Trading Card Line will portray the United States’ newest commander in chief using their patented eTopps refractor technology:

2009 eTopps Barack Obama Card #: 44P Price: $9.00 Max Issue Qty: 999 On Sale Until: 2/9/09 3:00 AM EST

This is Obama’s second appearance on an eTopps trading card. This card is available for purchase on the official eTopps website from today (2/2/09) at 1pm EST until next Monday (2/9/09) at 3am EST.

(From Vent About Sports)

The Chicago White Sox are going to take full advantage of having a fan of theirs as President of the United States. The White Sox and New Era have designed a baseball cap that features President Obama’s last name on the side and on the back of the cap. The fitted hat version has “Obama” written on the side, while the adjustable version has “Obama” written on the back. Before these hats can be produced however, the President must give the OK to use his name on them. If the hats are produced, proceeds from their sale will be donated to charities likely tied to Chicago.

(From NikeLeBron.net)

LeBron’s Barack Obama “PE” and Other Yankee VIs

Last night, LeBron James showed his support for President Barack Obama by wearing a “customized” version of the White and Navy Nike Zoom LeBron VI. It was a special night for many reasons. I’m sure everybody will remember this for a very long time as King James hit his very first buzzer beater to win an NBA game. Don’t be confused, he’s hit many game winning shots before, but none of them actually went in as the horn sounded. Since we are on the subject, we would like to breakdown all the White and Navy aka Yankee VIs. There are four different versions: one with the ‘VI’ logo on the tongue, a similar GR model with ‘The Six’, and two LeBron James Player Exclusives. One of them is basically the same as the production model, but the other one has a little more White on it, which gives the shoes a cleaner look. It sports a modified heel counter, laces, and other minor details. See the whole pack after the jump.

From Nike Zoom LeB…

1. Barack Obama:
2. Regular PE
3. General Release:
4. Sample:

(From Athlebrities)

With the world still reeling from an amazing day in history, the YouTube gods have added this double delicious three minute clip of some of our favorite hoops babes talking about the impact of this election on their lives and that of their kids…Rashard Lewis, Amare Stoudemire, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Phil Jackson and others….

And for those who didn’t get the memo, Lebron watched the inauguration from his hotel room yesterday…in efforts to make sure we knew he was paying attention-he had the media snapping photos of he and his family in the hotel room, predictably, his insanely inflated ego was enough to make me throw up just a little bit…and no, I will never change my opinion of ‘he-who-only-smiles-for-the-camera-when-he-can-make-a-buck-or create-good-publicity-for-himself…

Maybe one day we’ll see our Baller in Chief donning a pair of Jordan Pure Pressure Limited Edition Inaugural Shoes? The kicks were released yesterday in two color schemes- inspired by our sexy Presidents first official day in office, Atlanta Hawk teammates Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson each wore a pair during their game against the Bulls…Made of a white leather upper, the key feature on each shoe is the graphic treatment along the midsole that is loosely based on stars and stripes. Along the tongue of each shoe, you’ll find the date of 1.20.09 stitched in, and below the eye stay sits each player’s personal logo. As usual, we see the ‘Team Dime’ icon on Mike Bibby’s pair, but here we have the debut of Joe Johnson’s personal ‘JJ2? logo, designed by Justin Taylor. (Sole Collector)

(From Obsessive Sneaker Disorder)

As many people wake-up today to a new President of the United States,
it gives us, OSD, great pride to witness a “changing of the guard”.

The world has changed ever so slightly and it’s going to take alot of
work, patience, compassion and a willingness to be bold for the world
to truly change.

Yesterday, we showed you the Nike Air Command Force, which will be
shipped to President Obama, today we show you the classic Nike Air
Alpha Force from ‘88 and the ‘Liberty Bell’ Alpha Force sneakers from
‘05.

Now, the question has to asked, what sneakers will President Obama be
wearing for his first pick-up game as the 44th President of the United
States?

Send us an email with your suggestions or join us tonight at 9:30 pm
EST/ 6:30 pm PST on the OSD Talk Show and let your thoughts be known.

Tune it at www.ObsessiveSneakerDisorder.com.

(From Obsessive Sneaker Disorder)

We, the good folks of OSD would like to congratulate Barack H. Obama
on becoming the 44th President of the United States.

With that being said, we plan on mailing a pair of Nike Air Command
Force sneakers to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. so that
when the ‘Baller-in-Chief’ is ready for the OSD Basketball Tournament,
his kick-game is as stoic as he is.

Walk good Mr. President….Walk Good!!