(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.

(By Colin Orcutt for The Obama Presidency Blog at City University of New York School of Journalism)

So we know that Obama is the “sports president.” He’s been to a Wizards game, aired a video to kick off Monday Night Football, taken in an Oregon State Beavers basketball game (wifey’s brother coaches the guys team there)–he even went to a George Washington University men’s basketball game (insert a Guantanamo joke here at your own discretion). He’s definitely a hoops and football fan (he hosted a Super Bowl party after his inauguration). But I don’t believe he’s been to any hockey or baseball games yet. And certainly not any golf.

But, if the president has any good sense, he’ll book his tickets now for the next tournament Tiger Woods is playing in, and then every one following.

Because thanks to Tiger Woods, Obama’s Afghanistan policy was pushed to the back up role in the news rotation for a lot of Americans last week, replaced instead with the latest gossipy developments about Woods’ extramarital affairs.

Andy Borowitz wrote a sarcastic post about this for Huffington Post’s humor section. And Frank Rich picked up on it in his most recent Op-Ed:

As long as our wars remain sacrifice-free, safely buried in the back pages behind Tiger Woods and reality television stunts, he’ll be able to pursue [the bet he made about Afghanistan].

The reality is, there has been plenty of discourse about Obama’s decision to surge 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan–a good many of the New York Times opinion writers have weighed in at this point–but we’re in an updated news model now. While the Afghanistan speech coverage and reaction may be out there, in this updated model, it’s not finding its way to me.

As any good Jeff Jarvis disciple will tell you, with the advent of Facebook, Twitter and the like, stories and news make their way to the reader. And so, less and less readers make their way to the stories. I personally haven’t checked my Google Reader in weeks; it used to be a daily occurrence (then again, so did sleep, so perhaps my normalcy level isn’t the best standard at this point).

Last week, one of the people I’m following on Twitter tweeted that excess of Tiger Woods updates he’d received from CNN led him to unsubscribe from their feed. I read no such complaints about Afghanistan social network traffic.

You could argue that it’s a reflection of the demographic that uses social networking perhaps, but I find that the demographic is expanding and argument is starting to show gray hairs.

What I think really happened is that Tiger Woods spared Obama some short-term scrutiny. I am not saying I either agree or disagree with his decision, but nothing happens in the presidency anymore that doesn’t garner at least a dull roar and a tea party. Whatever Obama had decided, there would have been loud voiced naysayers. Woods muted their effect.

And, since it will be hard to measure the results of Obama’s plan anytime soon, you could argue that by averting some of the public reaction, perhaps Woods improved Obama’s chance at a re-election bid. A bit of a stretch perhaps, but not entirely.

Either way, I firmly believe that some Obama staffers were at least a little happy with the timing of Woods’ accident. And if next week Woods is suddenly bestowed the title of “Distraction Czar,” (also known as the social secretary) remember, you heard it here first.

(From Eamonn Brennan for Yahoo Sports)

If you’re a hoops fan, you have at least one reason to enjoy our current president: Basketball is Obama’s favorite sport, and he approaches it with the reverence of someone who both plays and spectates, someone who appreciates the game from all angles. But you knew all this before Barack Obama became president.

What you also probably knew, or maybe you haven’t noticed, is that for whatever reason, former Duke guard and Obama personal staffer Reggie Love can’t convince Barack to wear a pair of shorts on the court. I don’t get it. Here’s yet more photographic evidence of Obama’s absolute allergy to shorts:

That’s Obama and Love, and as you’ll see, Love looks ready for some pickup. He’s got his swag right. Even if those Nike runners look like they’d be really bad for ankle on the basketball court, still, he’s ready to go.

Obama at least appears athletic, but he also looks like he’s getting ready to go for a brisk morning walk with his dog. If he walked on to the basketball court looking like that, the people I play with would laugh. (This scenario assumes it’s not Barack Obama we’re laughing at; I don’t think the DePaul student center crowd would really go for ridicule, given the hypothetical. But you know what I mean.)

Maybe dude’s legs are just really skinny. Who knows?

As reported by Yannis Koutroupis at Hoopsworld.com:

Artest has done a great job of staying in touch with his fan base and the public, keeping them up-to-date with what happens in his life. One detail that he left out though was his run in with President Obama on the basketball court at the White House.

“I actually snuck in the White House one time,” joked Artest on 790 the Ticket in Miami. “I saw Barack Obama playing basketball. I snuck in the back, and he tried to go up for a lay-up and I blocked his shot and ran out. And, Secret Service was trying to catch me and they couldn’t catch me. I promise you, they couldn’t catch me. I blocked Obama’s shot; fullcourt block, get it outta here (laughs).”

When Artest isn’t making up stories about meeting our Commander-in-Chief he’s running up his cell phone bill by being the most reachable player in the league.

By Claude Johnson

ForeignPolicy.com suggests the funny rhetorical title question in an article earlier today about the G8 Summit in Italy:

Before the G-8 summit began, intrepid Guardian reporter John Hooper infiltrated the L’Aquila barracks hosting world leaders and discovered a makeshift basketball court constructed especially to make Barack Obama feel welcome.

As Hooper’s quick photo makes clear, it is little more than a portable hoop on some concrete, but given that L’Aquila is an earthquake zone and that there was doubt Italy would finish its preparations in time for the summit, host Silvio Berlusconi deserves some credit for trying.

Each G-8 leader was limited to an entourage of 25, but that should be more than enough to get some real games going during the breaks. If anyone actually plays, will the game help blow off steam or add to the drama?

Hat tip: The indispensible Baller-in-Chief

What’s funny is wondering at what height the Italians set the adjustable rim on the portable basket, which could indeed result in some dunking.

Would a 7-foot rim be low enough for the shortest G8ers, Nicolas Sarkozy (France), Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Dmitry Medvedev (Russia), Taro Aso (Japan), and Angela Merkel (Germany)?  The others — Obama (U.S.A.), Stephen Harper (Canada), Gordon Brown (UK), Fedrik Reinfeldt (Sweden), and Jose Manuel Barroso (President of the European Commission) — seem to tower over the others.

What could be even funnier is if they had Berlusconi-style cheerleaders for such a game, or games, if they ever even take place.

(From The Daily Kos)

A Governor is not a Point Guard

I know it’s absurd to bring up Barack Obama in a diary about Sarah Palin, but just as a point of comparison, when Barack mentioned basketball during the campaign it usually was “I may be skinny, but I’ve got sharp elbows”. Translated that means I’m not afraid to go down low and mix it up with the big boys. It was him saying I can play the post, I can fill the role.

Lost in the loopiness of Friday’s press conference was the complete inaccuracy of her basketball analogy. A Governor is not Bob Cousy or Steve Nash, he is Wilt Chamberlin or Shaq. A Governor is the dominating presence in the middle, so powerful that the offense runs through him to accommodate his game. He doesn’t throw the alley oop, he’s the one who catches it and jams it through the hoop. He’s the one when the team misses the shot he gets the rebound and slams it through the hoop. He’s the one who gets the ball down low and powers his way under the basket and slams it through the hoop. It’s called signing bills and transforming ideas into laws.

And on the other end, when the other team is close to making the shot, he’s the last line of defense, the one who swats away the shot, vetoes their attempt to score. A good point guard is a legislator, perhaps a majority leader or whip, someone who is a facilitator, not a scorer. This isn’t difficult stuff, it’s a pretty simple and simplistic analogy.

So what does it say about Sarah Palin that she would get it so wrong? Some may say it shows a basic misunderstanding of what the job is all about. Certainly much of her actions as Governor have shown either lack of fully grasping the role or a severe disinterest in it. Some may say this is a reflection of her narcissism – I was a point guard therefore the Governor is a point guard. But I think the reality is a lot more shallow than that. We all know people like her. She’s stuck in High School. She still lives in her home town and even as Governor couldn’t bring herself to make the move to Capital. She married her high school sweetheart. And she still exhibits the pettiness and petulance of a high school girl who thinks she’s the be all and end all.

We all know people like her. They don’t make it in College, often drifting from school to school until returning to their home town to stay for good, sheltered in their past success, unable to move on. For Sarah, the Governor is a point guard because she’s incapable of the personal growth required to become something different, something bigger, something better.

I know it’s absurd to bring up Barack Obama in a diary about Sarah Palin, but just as a point of comparison, when Barack mentioned basketball during the campaign it usually was “I may be skinny, but I’ve got sharp elbows”. Translated that means I’m not afraid to go down low and mix it up with the big boys. It was him saying I can play the post, I can fill the role. Far different than the image of the point guard dribbling the ball through a full court press and then passing once she gets it over mid-court. Which brings me to the last point of her analogy in strict basketball terms: the full-court press.

That is a very effective defense…in High School. You occasionally see it in College. In the pros, it’s a sucker move. In this year’s championship, a key moment was when Phil Jackson decided to take the ball out at the far end of the court. Van Gundy fell for it, put a press on which just spread out the defense and allowed Derek Fisher to get off the open three to tie the game. It was the turning point of the series and the play that really showed the weakness in the Magic’s game – the coaching.

Van Gundy, like Sarah Palin, showed he wasn’t ready for the big time (though I would put him far above Palin in terms of preparedness). Sarah’s hoop game is still High School, just as Sarah herself is still stuck there, telling the increasingly fewer people of her past glories, big fish, small state. Did you know she was Miss Wasilla? She was. She still is.

(From Joseph Curl for The Washington Times Online)

Obama dominates news media with full-court press

Although the White House basketball court is still under construction, President Obama on Tuesday got in a quick game of hoops, throwing some sharp elbows, batting down weak shots and eventually falling back into a one-man, four-corners defense to run out the clock.

His opponents, the White House press corps, looked at times like the Washington Generals, known for their long-running losing streak against the invincible Harlem Globetrotters. The president put on a clinic of fancy dribbling just like Curly Neal, and even played Meadowlark Lemon to the Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney, when he asked the Internet site “reporter” to lob up an alley-oop question so he could slam-dunk the answer.

“Nico, I know you, and all across the Internet, we’ve been seeing a lot of reports coming out of Iran,” Mr. Obama said from the podium. “I know there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. Do you have a question?”

“Yes, I did,” said Mr. Pitney, who, according CBS News’ Mark Knoller, said the White House called him Tuesday morning and invited him to ask an Iran question at the news conference.

Many in the hard-pressed press corps played along throughout the hourlong show, turning the ball over again and again – “accidentally,” of course.

“I answered your question, which is that we don’t yet know how this is going to play out. OK?” Mr. Obama said dismissively to NBC News’ Chuck Todd, who had asked an open-ended query on the “consequences” for Iran after its disputed election.

Reporter Macarena Vidal of the Spanish news service EFE all but handed the hoopster-in-chief the ball when she brought up democracy efforts in Latin America. “Have you noticed any particular progress in these two months?” Another presidential tomahawk dunk.

Several times, the president simply ignored the question. When USA Today’s David Jackson asked a specific question about health care, Mr. Obama pulled back in a delay offense: “Well, let’s talk first of all about health care reform more broadly,” he said, before expounding at clock-eating length about generalities.

When Mr. Obama wasn’t slashing through the defense for an easy layup, he was swinging elbows, backing reporters off.

“Hold on one second, let me answer the question,” he said to American Urban Radio Network’s April Ryan before proceeding to dodge the question. When press corps doyenne Helen Thomas tried to ask a question, he said: “Hold on a second, Helen. That’s – that’s a different question” – which he also didn’t answer.

And Mr. Obama got away with a blatant offensive charge when he ran over McClatchy’s Margaret Talev, who asked about the president’s on-and-off smoking habit, in light of his decision Monday to sign a law regulating the tobacco industry.

“I think it’s fair, Margaret, to just say that you just think it’s neat to ask me about my smoking, as opposed to it being relevant to my new law,” Mr. Obama said.

But not all reporters were willing to play ball. Fox News’ Major Garrett drove to the hoop with a strong question on Mr. Obama’s new, stronger position on Iran: “What took you so long to say those words?”

Throughout, though, the president talked over reporters seeking to follow up on their non-answered questions. He ignored a follow-up from Mr. Garrett, and called on another reporter when Mr. Jackson bluntly re-asked whether the president’s “public” health care plan “is non-negotiable.”

The news conference, Mr. Obama’s fourth at the White House, was moved from the Rose Garden to the briefing room at the last minute. White House officials said the shift was related to the summer heat, and denied it was made because teleprompters, which Mr. Obama relies on at nearly every speaking engagement, could not be seen in the bright, sunny garden.

Officials set up teleprompters in the briefing room, only to break them down an hour before the news conference.

But Mr. Obama stuck with his game plan, even working the referees when calls didn’t go his way. When ABC News’ Jake Tapper, also not playing ball with the dribbler-in-chief, stepped up to once again ask Mr. Jackson’s question, the president put on a dazzling act of having been fiercely fouled.

“Are you the ombudsman for the White House press corps? What’s your question? Is that your question?” Mr. Obama said to raucous laughter from the room, although Mr. Tapper held his ground, unamused and unsmiling.

Much has been made about the giddy laughter among the White House press corps during presidential news conferences, but Tuesday offered a window into just who packed into the tiny briefing room for the show.

A slew of nonworking “journalists” stood along one side of the room. One woman, who identified herself as working for “Hungary News TV,” took pictures with a small camera throughout the hour. Another very young woman stood among the working reporters, taking no notes. Asked afterward who she was, Rebecca Cooper, a reporter for WJLA-Channel 7 in Washington, stepped in to answer: “She’s an intern.”

“Everybody wants to see an Obama press conference!” she said happily.

Speaking at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend, comedian Wanda Sykes ripped President Barack Obama about his basketball playing:

I must say Mr. President that I thought that, you know, when you got into office that you would put a swift end to your basketball pickup playing, you know … pickup basketball playing, you know? I mean, c’mon, first black president, playing basketball.  That’s one step forward, two steps back!  And, and really.  Are you any good?  I betcha you think your game is really nice right now, don’t you?  Yeah!  You really do got good moves, huh?  I mean, c’mon!  Nobody’s gonna give the president a hard foul with the Secret Service standing there!  He’s probably braggin’ and everything.  “You shoulda seen me today baby, I was ballin’!”  You know.  Hmm.  Yeah.  They just strokin’ your ego.  Like, “Ooh Mr. President you really shook me that time!  Ya know.  I thought you was goin’ this way, and then I saw Secret Service do this so I went that way.  Right to the hole sir, right to the hole.  But that’s the thing about you sir, you’re so likeable because you’re so accessible.

Sykes’ delivery and timing were perfect, and her other comments were just as hilarious.  Here is the complete video in two parts:

(From Paul Bedard for The U.S. News & World Report Online)

He’d never suggest it, since everybody around ousted General Motors boss Rick Wagoner says he’s the most optimistic and professional guy they know. But there’s a yarn in auto circles that Wagoner’s rich Duke University roots—student, Blue Devil player, trustee, cheerleader—added to his woes in President Obama’s eyes.

Why? How about because Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski panned Obama’s NCAA picks that had Duke—correctly—not making the Final Four. “The Blue Devils get bounced from the tournament Thursday night, and you’re asked to resign Friday? Not sure if Coach K’s comments about the president’s picks had anything to do with the ouster,” says a friend. It probably didn’t, and our tipster was just using the story to explain that despite a very bad week, Wagoner remained upbeat about his and GM’s prospects as the company fights for its life. Right after getting the bad news from the White House, “he seemed in remarkably good spirits for a guy who was just asked to step down,” says the insider.

We saw the same attitude recently when Wagoner took time from pitching Congress and the administration on GM’s bailout plans to make a personal case to Whispers for the new V-6 Camaro. We asked the obvious question: Why go with the smaller engine when a V-8 is available for the muscle-car redux? “Close the doors, and promise not to tell anyone,” Wagoner said. “Actually, from a drive and handling perspective, the V-6 feels a little bit better.” It’s a little cheaper, too, something he plans to remind his sons of as they seek a car now that Dad’s driving off into the Detroit sunset. And they’d better not argue. “A Camaro,” he says, “was my first car, the cheapest car I could find.”

(From Jason Linkins for The Huffington Post)

So, in case you missed it, CNN’s Ed Henry showed up at this week’s Obama press conference, having received some drunken advice from Wolf Blitzer at the Gridiron dinner that boiled down to, “Ask him three questions at once, about how dreamy Andrew Cuomo is, and why he won’t get mad! Doesn’t he love his daughters?” And Ed Henry attempted this, and was humbled, utterly, by a withering response from the president. So Ed Henry wrote an article for CNN that attempted to “rewrite the narrative” and “win the Ed Henry newscycle” with a long and addled alternate account of the incident, in which he was the hero and defeated the president like David Frost won the love of the cheerleader. I have already optioned Ed Henry’s article for a movie I’m working on, tentatively titled Untitled Zac Efron J-School Sex Comedy.

Anyway, here’s a video of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Eugene Robinson, dumping all over poor old Ed.

OLBERMANN: So, Mr. Henry has a rather sanguine view of himself! is it shared by anybody, did he win that battle of wits and we didn’t notice?
ROBINSON: You know I just don’t think you are going to see that analysis being picked up very widely. I mean, look, it’s like guarding Kobe Bryant. He comes down and does a reverse 360 windmill tomahawk jam in your face, the ball actually hits you in the face on the way down, and then picking yourself up off the court and acknowledging the cheers of the crowd. I mean, dude, you just got owned. Dude, the guy just made you his companion.

I guess this means that President Obama sexually assaulted Ed Henry at a hotel in Eagle, Colorado.

Anyway, I wouldn’t talk so big, MSNBCers. It’s not like your guy exactly distinguished himself, with this awesome question.

(From Ball Don’t Lie)

BDL’s completely pointless, albeit oddly entertaining, Bedlam Tournament continues. Thanks to your help, we’ve compiled a list of 32 things that you may or may not love about the NBA and seeded them into four regions. We’ll unveil all of the first round match-ups over the course of this week. Voting will remain open until Sunday.

Our final match-up in the President Region: No. 1 seed Barack Obama, the 44th and current President of the United States vs. No. 8 seed Stephon Marbury’s head tattoo. A closer look at the nominees:

No. 1 Baller-in-Chief, Obama: The White House is only a mile or so from Verizon Center, the Wizards arena in the heart of DC’s Chinablock, and yet no president had attended a game there since 2000. Well, that changed in February, when President Obama sat courtside to watch his hometown Bulls take on the Wizards. He had a pint, read the game program and talked a little trash. Incredible.

No. 8 Stephon Marbury’s head ink: Much like Mike Tyson, who went through a stretch of bizarre events and face ink, then-Knicks guard Stephon Marbury reached the point of no sane return this past summer by tattooing a Starbury logo on his head. We had a little fun with it.

So, who/what makes it through to the next round? What do you love more? Vote today.

Here is the full video of President Barack Obama’s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno:

And, here’s the basketball portion of the full transcript:

MR. LENO: And how about, are you going to put in a basketball court?

MR. OBAMA: Oh, yes. Yes. Well, we have a basketball court already at Camp David. We just had a little rim that was inadequate

–- (laughter) –- at the White House. But there are tennis courts, so we’re going to just get those –- you know, those rims that you can roll in and out. And then we’ll just put them on either –-

MR. LENO: Let me ask you, when people –- Mr. President, would you like to play? Yes, I would. Do they throw the game? Come on. (Laughter and applause.)

MR. OBAMA: I don’t see why they would throw the game — except for all those Secret Service guys with guns around. (Laughter.)

MR. LENO: Yes, exactly.

MR. OBAMA: I will say that I don’t think I get the hard fouls that I used to. Usually I don’t –-

MR. LENO: Yes, Reggie goes, ohhh, I missed, ohhh. (Laughter.)

MR. OBAMA: Reggie doesn’t do that. This is Reggie Love, my assistant. He played for Duke, very competitive guy. He doesn’t let me win because, as he pointed out, if you lose to Obama you never hear the end of it. (Laughter.)

MR. LENO: See, there you go. Now, have you picked a final four?

MR. OBAMA: I did.

MR. LENO: Okay. How about your final one, who do you got?

MR. OBAMA: I got North Carolina Tar Heels. (Applause.)

MR. LENO: North Carolina.

MR. OBAMA: I think I got –- I got a hard time from Reggie, because he played at Duke, and you know, Coach K, being competitive, I think was a little –- you know, pushed back a little bit today. And I understand that. That’s what you want. You want everybody to be competitive. I think these are all great teams.

MR. LENO: Like, do you look at the whole picture when you do that? For example, isn’t that a swing state? (Laughter and applause.) I’m just saying, are you looking at the whole picture when you pick?

MR. OBAMA: I mean, the fact that teams from North Carolina, Indiana, Iowa, all seem to do well in my bracket –- (laughter) –- I think is a complete coincidence. Absolutely.

Let’s hope that the portable hoops are only temporary.  They’ll do for now, during the summer and while the economy may not allow him to justify the expense of constructing an indoor court.  However, come next November …