(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 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.)

(From The Huffington Post)

President Obama and Sasha were able to work in some daddy-daughter time this weekend (before she heads off to Spain with mom), attending an WNBA game on Sunday. They were joined by one of Sasha’s girlfriends and president of the Washington Mystics Sheila Johnson. For those wondering, the Mystics beat the Tulsa Shock, 87-62. Check out some pics of Barack and Sasha watching the game, and the president presumably explaining the facts of basketball to his youngest girl.

(PHOTOS at original article)

(From the Associated Press Online)

President Barack Obama speaks with Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson, far right, during a Washington-Tulsa WNBA game on Sunday. Obama’s daughter, Sasha, is in the middle. (JIM WATSON / AFP – Getty Images)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama checked out the WNBA’s Washington Mystics on Sunday after spending the morning shooting some hoops himself.

Obama, his daughter Sasha and a friend of Sasha’s had courtside seats for a women’s basketball game between the Mystics and the Tulsa Shock at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington. Sasha and her friend, whom the White House declined to identify, both wore Mystics jerseys.

The crowd at the arena roared when the scoreboard showed the president’s arrival. Obama chatted during the game with Mystics owner Ted Leonsis and team president Sheila Johnson.

Obama and his party left the arena a few minutes before the end of the game, which the Mystics won, 87-62.

After the game, Mystics player Marissa Coleman told reporters: “The only two times I’ve noticed who was courtside was when LeBron (James) was here, and obviously today. And today’s was even worse. It’s just kind of a surreal thing to look over and see the President of the United States sitting courtside.”

Earlier Sunday, Obama played basketball against an Army team at Fort McNair in the District of Columbia.

Obama has attended basketball games at the Verizon Center before. In January he had front-row seats for a Duke-Georgetown game, and even sat in with CBS’ announcers for about seven minutes. Last year, he saw his hometown Chicago Bulls lose a game to the Washington Wizards at the arena.

(From the Associated Press via the Washington Post Online)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama welcomed the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers to the White House Monday, praising the team for their accomplishments on the basketball court and their service in the community.

An avid basketball fan himself, Obama said he gets enormous pleasure from watching excellence on the court – and nobody exemplified excellence more than the Lakers last year, as they won their 15th league title, defeating the Orlando Magic.

Obama said he was especially excited to meet Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson, who has won 10 championships, though he didn’t hesitate to point out that six of those victories were with Obama’s hometown Chicago Bulls.

President Barack Obama holds a personalized Los Angeles Lakers team jersey presented to him by Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, left, as he honored the 2009 NBA basketball champions Lakers, Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak – AP)

“You remember that,” Obama joked with former Lakers all-star Magic Johnson, who was on the losing end of the Bulls 1991 victory.

Obama commended the Lakers players not only for their athletic achievements, but also their work off the court. The players held a fitness clinic for Washington-area school children Monday, and several players are donating money to relief efforts in Haiti.

President Barack Obama stands with Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, during a ceremony honoring the 2009 NBA basketball champions Los Angeles Lakers. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak – AP)

The Lakers added to Obama’s collection of sports jerseys, presenting him with a bright yellow jersey with the president’s name stitched on the back.

(From Kurt Helin for NBC Los Angeles Online)

The Lakers meet the president, a nice way to forget about the ugly loss in Toronto.

Getty Images

The Lakers weren’t expecting to get a walkthrough — a pregame practice going over positions — on their off-day in Washington D.C. on Monday.

But when you’re going to meet the President, you practice.

On Monday, the Lakers got to meet Baller-in-Chief Barack Obama, and before the President walked in and official press conference started, the Lakers had a walk-though with White House staff on where to walk in, where to stand on the risers and the like.

They got it right when the lights went on — just like they did last year in the NBA Finals, which is the reason they got to meet the President. And while the President does more of these meet-and-greet photo ops than anyone on the planet, he seemed to seriously enjoy this one. Because who doesn’t want to take a break from writing and rehearsing a long speech given to a room where half the people want you to lose your job, so instead you can talk hoops with Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant?

Obama has made no secret before he is a fan of Jackson, not surprising since he grew up in Chicago as a Bulls fan. Obama also made a joke about Jackson’s ritual of handing out books to players before their longest road trip of the year, saying he would like Jackson to send the Democrats and Republicans some books about playing as a team.

This was not the first time meeting the president for all of the players. Jordan Farmar introduced Obama at a campaign rally in Newport Beach back in 2008.

“President Obama was really cool,” Farmar said. “We talked basketball right away.”

Magic Johnson was there for the Lakers and said Obama was the first person he let talk some trash to him without talking back. Jeanie Buss offered Obama some courtside seats (although more people would still want to see Jack Nicholson).

If the weather in Washington were not the typical January cold and dreary, Obama would have wanted to have done this ceremony outside, on the full-sized basketball court he had put in at the White House. Maybe shot around a little on the court, and with the way the Lakers have played defense of late Obama probably could put up 20 points on them. The scouting report on Obama is that he is a pretty good and smart player, but likes to talk a little trash and shoot a little too much.

Maybe Kobe and Obama would have gotten along just fine.

(From the New York Post Online)

Obama’s pick and roll

SEN. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) says President Obama has a secret weapon — on the basketball court. “I love to play with him, but I’m never on the winning team,” Casey told the crowd at Rosie O’Grady’s on West 46th the other night at his re-election fund-raiser thrown by one-time Hugh Carey chief of staff Jim Cunningham. Casey said Obama always says, “I’ll pick first. I pick Reggie,” meaning Reggie Love, the president’s “body man” who played basketball for Duke. “Reggie protects and feeds the president on the court, and together they cream the rest of us. But it’s great fun.” Also on hand were Jim Gill, Jerry Crotty, Alfred E. Smith IV, Tonio Burgos and Bill Cunningham.

(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?

(From The Huffington Post)

On Monday, President Obama and personal aide Reggie Love (who is also HuffPost readers’ pick for White House Hottest) left their Manhattan hotel to play basketball at St. Bartholomew’s Church. During the campaign, the two men played b-ball on primary days for good luck.

The president spoke at the Hudson Valley Community College in upstate New York on Monday morning. He then traveled to NYC for three days of UN meetings in the lead-up to the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

See photos of the athletes below.

Leaving their hotel:

Returning to their hotel, water bottles in hand (Fiji for Love, Aquafina for Obama), after the game:

A gratuitous Reggie Love photo. Here the personal aide walks across the South Lawn of the White House to Marine One on September 12 en route to Minneapolis with the president. His reading material? The New Republic.

(From NBC New York Online)

AP

President Obama exercised his political power Monday evening by shooting some hoops in a Manhattan church — less than 24 hours before he makes his U.N. General Assembly debut that’ll include a meeting Tuesday with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders about stalled Mideast peace negotiations.

President Obama, who is staying at a swanky midtown hotel this week, set out around 5:45 p.m. dressed in a black warmup pants and a fleece.  His on-foot destination — the indoor basketball court at Saint Bartholomew’s Church on 50th Street.

Obama was dressed for the occasion in black track pants, a black fleece and a black White Sox hat. He was accompanied by his bodyguard buddy, Reggie, who was, apparently, also his opponent.

When asked “Who’s gonna win?” the president replied, “Ask Reggie how he did last time!”

Tuesday is a big day for President Obama, who is due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

Mr. Obama will also deliver his first address as president to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday — and he is due to chair a special session of the U.N. Security Council about nuclear non-proliferation Thursday.

The president might have had another reason for the workout: He came face to face with embattled New York Gov. David Paterson on Monday — just days after it was leaked that he wants Paterson to stand down during the 2010 election.

(From Sunlen Miller for ABC News Online)

And the ever-present basketball influence in the West Wing, the baller in chief playing pickup games at Camp David with family and staffers or keeping those Obama-branded basketballs pumped up.

President Barack Obama plays basketball with senior staff and their family members during a retreat at Camp David on July 18, 2009.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

White House Butler Von Everett pumps up a basketball for President Barack Obama in the Outer Oval Office of the White House, June 30, 2009.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

(From Russ Crawford for LA Progressive.com)

President Barack Obama threw out the first pitch at Major League Baseball’s All Star Game after flying to the game accompanied by Hall of Famer Willie Mays, and visiting the players in the clubhouse before the game. He also appeared, along with former presidents, in a video celebrating community service broadcast before the game and joined the broadcast booth during the second inning of the game. A busy and sport-filled day for the new president who has used sport extensively, both as a candidate, and in his first year in office.

Sport has taken an increasingly visible role in presidential politics in recent years. During his 2000 election race, when a reporter asked George W. Bush what mistakes he had made in his life, a theme that reporters would return to often, he answered that he traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago Cubs. One of his first interviews after his inauguration was with Bob Costas on Costas Now, and during his first year in office he began the practice of opening the White House grounds to Tee Ball on the South Lawn.

John Kerry, Bush’s opponent in the 2004 election ratcheted up the visibility of sport by taking part in hunting trips, snow boarding, and a variety of other sports, including windsurfing – which backfired when Republicans used the images to re-enforce his flip-flop image. These outings were reportedly intended to “humanize” the candidate who suffered from a less than warm image with the public.

Politicians using sport for their own ends is at least as old as Theodore Roosevelt threatening to ban football from college campuses unless something was done to lessen the brutality of the game, but President Barack Obama has increased the frequency of the use of sport to further his political aims, going beyond his predecessors in significant ways. His participation in and conscious use of sport are at once an attempt to connect with the bulk of the sporting public and an acknowledgement of the importance contemporary American culture attaches to games.

During his run for the presidency, Obama, a high school basketball player, was often pictured playing hoops, and after turning in a miserable performance at bowling, joked that, if elected, he would replace the presidential bowling alley with a basketball court. He also maintained a rigorous workout schedule, finding time, according to an article by Washington Post writer Eli Zaslow, for at least 90 minutes a day during the end of his hectic campaign and into the transition period.

This was not a significant change from George W. Bush, his predecessor, who was steadfast in his cycling, or Bill Clinton who enjoyed a morning jog, although sometimes to McDonalds, and most presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have engaged in some form of physical activity during their presidency. As an advocate of the vigorous life, Roosevelt was perhaps the most famous of the presidential athletes, participating in boxing, hiking, hunting, and other active pursuits while in the Oval Office, but the new president seems bent on outdoing his early Twentieth Century predecessor.

Roosevelt also began the presidential habit of using the “Bully Pulpit” to encourage other Americans that participation in the strenuous life was in their best interests. Other presidents have also taken time from their busy schedules to address problems in the sporting world, including Harry Truman who, according to the daily schedules maintained by his presidential library, met on several occasions to discuss the college basketball point shaving scandal in the early 1950s, and George W. Bush who addressed the steroid scandals in baseball.

Obama has likewise used his bully pulpit so far to urge the National Collegiate Athletic Association to scrap the controversial Bowl Championship Series format for Division I football and adopt a playoff system to crown its champion. Candidate Obama urged this change in an appearance on Monday Night Football just before the election, and repeated his wish for a playoff during a 60 Minutes interview later that month and has continued calling for change since taking office. Obama’s immediate predecessor, who did not shy away from taking controversial positions, apparently felt that the BCS was too hot to handle, reportedly being overheard saying that he had no opinion, other than to being sorry that the Texas Longhorns weren’t in the championship game.

Presidents have also used sport to connect with voters, placing themselves at the center of the attention that such events attract. Every president since Howard Taft has thrown out the first pitch at Major League Baseball games, and this activity placed, and was intended to place, them at the center of the American way of life that celebrates team sport, and the nominal National Pastime. In recent years, the venues for these celebrations of the American way have been expanded to include NASCAR (W. Bush) and Monday Night Football (Obama), among others.

For the sheer frequency of sports appearances, pronouncements, and use however, Obama has set a pace that is beyond anything his predecessors did in office. He has used sport for everything from getting elected to touting his first nomination to the United States Supreme Court, and expanded the scope of presidential visibility in the sporting world.

Even before he officially became a candidate, Obama recorded a message for MNF that began sounding political speaking about whether a contender from the Midwest had any chance, but ended with him donning a Chicago Bears cap and vocalizing the “da da da da” opening theme of the telecast. Both he and his opponent John McCain were interviewed by Chris Berman during the last game before the election, making them the first candidates interviewed on that program.

When the president announced his nomination of Sonya Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court, he prominently mentioned that “Some say that Judge Sotomayor saved baseball,” referencing her 1995 injunction that prevented Major League Baseball owners using replacement players and effectively ending the 1994 Strike. He also mentioned that his nominee was a lifetime Yankee fan, adding that he hoped that would not “disqualify her in the eyes of New Englanders in the Senate.”

By way of contrast, when John F. Kennedy nominated Byron “Whizzer” White to the Supreme Court in 1962, his message omitted any mention of the nominees’ impressive athletic resume. The best athlete to ever sit on the Supreme Court, a 1937 college All American halfback at Colorado, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and one of the highest paid professional football players during his brief (1938-1941) career, Kennedy’s nominating statement, according to the New York Times, read only that “ ‘ I have known Mr. White for over 20 years.’ The President said. ‘His character, experience and intellectual force qualify him superbly for service on the nation’s highest tribunal.’ ”

The new president has also been hitting the links of late, continuing a tradition that began with Taft, but with some differences in interpretation. Golf has often been a source of controversy for presidents. For instance, Dwight Eisenhower was often ridiculed as the “duffer in chief” for his frequent golf outings. According to Associated Press reporter Joseph White, JFK, arguably the best presidential golfer, kept his love for the game away from photographers because he was concerned the game was viewed as being too elitist until after he was elected. Gerald Ford was ridiculed for the spectators he struck with his errant drives, which reinforced his klutzy image in the popular culture. George H.W. Bush drew criticism for playing during the Gulf War of 1991, and reinforced charges that he was out of touch with Americans. Bill Clinton was notorious for his constant use of Mulligans, which fed into his reputation as “Slick Willy,” and George W. Bush also was criticized for giving up his trips to the course during the Iraq War.

So far, Obama’s golfing has been depicted favorably by the press, with reports focusing on the relaxation that the game affords the president, what it positively demonstrates of his character, and its ability to connect him to normal people. According to Don Van Natta Jr. in an article for Golf Digest, golf companions stretching back to his days as a state senator in Illinois verify that Obama counted all of his strokes and maintained his equilibrium in the face of a less than polished game, testifying to his integrity and cool under pressure. Obama himself stated that he was drawn to the game as a way of connecting with his colleagues in the state senate and his constituents in down-state Illinois. In an analysis of photos of the president golfing, Michael Bamberger of Golf.com, commenting on the president’s attire, observed that “nothing says regular-[J]oe golfer like cargo shorts.”

During “interesting” times, a president dealing with two wars, and economic crises finding time for 9 holes in the midst of a hectic schedule might come in for criticism for such trivial pursuits, but to this point, we have only heard platitudes for the latest presidential duffer.

Obama’s use of sport continues the tried and true practices of his predecessors of employing the powerful medium of games to connect to the large percentage of the American public in a way that political speeches cannot. Throwing out first pitches, and other uses of sport, allows a president to engage in a spectacle that focuses positive national attention on them, and offering little in the way of a downside. While there were scattered boos and his pitch fell just short of the plate, Obama’s performance at the All Star Game was a positive one for him. Images of the president with heroes from the past such as Mays, joking with current players before the game, and his banter with the announcers during the game earned him mostly positive press, something that every politician works hard to achieve.

Taking on the BCS likewise offers little risk. Officials in charge of the system were not impressed by the president’s call for a playoff, but the bulk of college football fans have little love for the complicated and often seemingly unfair system. This represents a way for Obama to connect to voters in a positive way that his economic or social policies might not.

Linking himself to sport programs such as Monday Night Football, and using baseball to pre-sell his judicial nominee also offers the president a chance to prove to the American electorate that he, and she, are one of them. During the campaign, the right continually accused Obama of being a radical or a socialist, and radio commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity continually brought up the candidate’s connections with controversial figures such as former radical Bill Ayers, and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Placing himself in a sporting context allowed Obama to provide visual and rhetorical evidence that he was in the mainstream of American culture. The same is true of Sotomayor. By hailing her as the savior of baseball, the National Pastime, the president attempted to shape her public image as being solidly within the American way. The implicit message is that no one who enjoys football or baseball can be a radical – they are as American as apple pie and baseball.

The centrality of sport in the American way has a history stretching back to baseball’s use as a unifying national pastime in a country desperately searching for something to hold it together in the face of the increasing likelihood of civil war. In the late Nineteenth Century, muscular Christians saw sport as the path to salvation, both morally and physically, for a middle class increasingly engaged in sedentary pursuits that could lead to the downfall of American and perhaps Western Civilization. In the 1920s, sports heroes such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were often better known and more beloved than whoever happened to be in the White House. During the Second World War when soldiers were not engaged in combat, they were often engaged in friendlier fields of strife on the diamond or the gridiron. Especially during the early decades of the Cold War, sport was consciously used by policy makers to strengthen the American way by inculcating the purported values of sport – teamwork, integrity, physical vigor – in American youth, making them less susceptible to the blandishments of communism and physically able to withstand any attack. Since the late 1960s and 1970s, the role of sport and the values it may build have come into question, but in presidential politics, it remains a potent method of reaching out to voters.

Whether Obama’s use of sport continues to be an effective tool remains to be seen, and already signs that the opposition will challenge that use have began to emerge. The headline on the right leaning Fox News website read “Obama’s Ceremonial Pitch at All Star Game Barely Reaches Catcher’s Mound,” and on his Wednesday program Limbaugh contended that the president “throws like a girl.” It will also be instructive to see if anyone picks up Obama’s lack of a glove on the mound, given the controversy that ensued during the campaign over his refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin.

According to Frank Carnavale, Obama was to wear a special glove made for him with the number 44 and an American flag, but during the game the glove was nowhere to be seen. It is unlikely that President Obama’s use of sport will slow down, but the frequencies of attacks on such use are only likely to increase.