Damon Weaver’s interview of President Barack Obama included some basketball moments.
Damon Weaver: Everybody knows that you love basketball. I think it would be cool to have a president who could dunk. Can you dunk?
President Obama: Not anymore. I used to when I was young, but I’m almost 50 now so, your legs are the first thing to go.
Damon Weaver: My buddy Dwayne Wade promised me if you gave me the interview he would play you in a one on one basketball game, but he’s not sure if he would let you score. Would you be willing to play him in a one-on-one basketball game?
President Obama: I would play Dwayne Wade, and if Dwayne was here, I’m sorry to hear that he was trash talking about his game. I’ve got to admit though Dwayne Wade is a little bit better at basketball than I am, so I might rather have him on my team playing against someone else than playing against him.
You’ll recall that 11-year-old Weaver got press credentials through KEC-TV News in order to interview President Obama regarding education. The sixth grader attends the Kathryn E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary school, in Pahokee, Florida.
The President invited the Detroit Shock to the White House today, where he congratulated them on their third WNBA Championship in six years. Earlier in the day, the Shock hosted a WNBA Fit Clinic at the local Boys and Girls Club, as part of United We Serve. The President praised the team’s dedication to service, and noted the great work they have done in Detroit.
He also praised the team, and the WNBA, for serving as inspiration to a generation of young girls who dream of playing professional sports:
Let me also say something as a father — I was mentioning it to the team before we came out. It’s hard to believe the WNBA has already been around for 12 years. And that means that my daughters have never known a time when women couldn’t play professional sports.
They look at the TV and they see me watching SportsCenter and they see young women who look like them on the screen. And that lets them and all our young women, as well as young men know that we should take for granted that women are going to thrive and excel as athletes. And it makes my daughters look at themselves differently; to see that they can be champions, too. So, as a father, I want to say thank you. (Applause.) And thank you to all the WNBA athletes who work hard each day to set a positive example to which all our daughters can aspire.
Last week I got a call from the producer of a new upcoming television show called “The Buried Life” on behalf of these four young guys who are trying to accomplish a list of 100 things to do before they die while helping strangers do the same thing.
So it’s a kind of a how to do anything series with a pass it forward twist.
The four guys tracked me down because #95 on their list is ‘Play Ball with Obama’ and they thought maybe Baller-in-Chief.com could help.
From their website, which is impressive and well done:
We’ve decided to step up our game and add another seemingly impossible item to the list: #95: Play Ball with Obama. Bay-rock is one of our heroes, he changed the world in a moment -- we want to see if he can ball. One on one, one on four, TBL vs. The White House, whatever! The challenge is out Mr. President.
Their project sounds really interesting, especially the altruistic component where they help others. It also seems well-funded, which in and of itself is quite an accomplishment for this quartet of seemingly ordinary everyday guys. Well-funded enough, anyway, to make a difference with a charitable organization, an important social cause, or in lives of individuals who could benefit most. This is as important as ever, in D.C. as well as elsewhere.
Kudos to the group for creating something from nothing, and taking their vision this far.
So I told them I wasn’t sure if I could help but that I would try.
The guys in this group are Ben Nemtin, Duncan Penn, Jonnie Penn, and Dave Lingwood. They seemed likable and energetic.
“We started this project to inspire others and to prove anything is possible,” Duncan later explained.
It’s an improbable list, especially #95.
“This is a tough one,” I said.
“They’re all tough, but we’ve completed all of the ones we’ve tried so far,” their producer said.
Of course, playing President Obama in basketball would have been much earlier than #95 on my list, but I give the guys credit nevertheless. Or maybe they’re saving the hardest ones for last.
My advice to them was that if they focus on helping provide assistance and exposure to local D.C. community service projects, then 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will tend to pay that much more attention to what they’re doing.
Their trailer below does a good job of explaining the project:
Meanwhile, the entire crew is in Washington, D.C. this week talking to politicans, officials, media contacts, people who’ve played basketball with the President, and anyone else who might offer clues or leads or advice.
Keep an eye out for a big purple bus rolling around in the city.
If you have any leads, they say, you can contact them here: crew@theburiedlife.com.
Or go to their website, where you can sign up and create your own personal list of 100 things to do before you die.
A few hours before President Obama stepped to the mound at the Major League Baseball All-Star game in St. Louis Cardinals territory, a sports analyst told me there was no way he’d wear his White Sox gear.
But that’s exactly what he did, another demonstration that Obama is an unabashed, fervent fan of all things sports.
It’s not just baseball he loves — asked last week about news reports from abroad he’ll attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the president even offered a pun: “That’s my goal.”
I’ve been noting this on Twitter for months using the tag #potuslovessports, but finally pulled together all of the examples of the Obama obsession for a story in today’s paper:
From making March Madness bracket picks in the White House Map Room to thanking Russians for Washington Capitals hockey star Alex Ovechkin, President Obama is embracing his role as America’s No. 1 sports fan.
He plays basketball and golfs most weekends, and he’s hosted nine sports teams from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Columbus Crew soccer champions at the White House since taking office in January -- a record-setting pace.
“The passion that Obama has is on the extreme side and shared by only a small handful of presidents,” said Marc Ganis, a sports analyst and president of Chicago-based SportsCorp Ltd.
Mr. Obama’s enthusiasm goes beyond the usual photo-op. He knows his facts and he loves his Chicago teams -- pro basketball’s Bulls, pro football’s Bears and big league baseball’s White Sox.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Obama was in the sports spotlight again, throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis and trading quips with Fox Sports play-by-play announcer Joe Buck -- including an insult to the Washington Nationals’ lousy season.
I had fun reporting the story, interviewing John Sayle Watterson, author of The Games Presidents Play: Sports and the Presidency. He gave me all kinds of historical details that didn’t make the final cut.
Among them:
Herbert Hoover used to gather Cabinet members to play a game he called “Medicine Ball,” sort of like volleyball, every morning on the White House south lawn at 7:30 a.m. with few exceptions.
According to Watterson, President Teddy Roosevelt was an avid athlete — from hunting and tennis to wrestling and jujitsu. “He was the first president to really engage in sports in a major way and used sports to shape his image,” the author said.
Sports Corp.’s Ganis noted there were some fervent fans — President Nixon would send Redskins Coach George Allen suggestions for plays — but former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton rarely “did the sports thing” beyond photo opportunities.
This president knows his stuff — Obama has long said he prefers ESPN’s sports center to political cable shows.
At one point his NCAA bracket (he accurately picked University of North Carolina as the winner) was a featured item at WhiteHouse.gov. He’d given ESPN the exclusive interview and filled out the bracket in the Map Room from memory. Obama also has been vocal advocating for a change to college football tournament system.
Obama watches the games intensely, hosting a SuperBowl party at the White House for members of Congress, joining friends for the NBA All Star game and predicting the Los Angeles Lakers would win the championship in six games (it only took five).
Further making my point yesterday, before heading to the midwest for a speech on community colleges, Obama made time in his day for another sports star as tennis great Serena Williams visited the Oval Office.
The White House also posted video of Bob Costas interviewing Obama:
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs uses baseball, soccer and football references on a regular basis, and even a technological gaffe implicated the sports-loving Obama team — one day the White House live stream played ESPN.
Wizards player Etan Thomas has been spotted at the White House and is rumored to be playing with Obama, who has retrofitted the tennis courts into an outdoor basketball court.
In May when honoring UNC, he reminded the players that he’d chosen them for the bracket and said he needed to work on his jump shot.
This week after paying tribute to the champion Columbus team, the president fumbled a signed soccer ball on his way back to the Oval Office.
Bush’s first year in office included similar events, from the University of Oklahoma football and softball teams to hosting the first, second and third-ever White House tee-ball game for youngsters, according to events compiled by Mark Knoller of CBS News.
Knoller, the unofficial White House historian, noted that Bush threw the first pitch during Game 3 of the New York Yankees versus the Arizona Diamondbacks World Series, just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
He later honored the Diamondbacks at the White House for their victory.
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