(From the Phillippines Business Mirror)
Ba-Rock Star Obama
DID you stay up to watch the Obama inauguration Tuesday midnight and all the way to Wednesday morning? I did.
That’s why after a week’s bout with flu, I feel light as an air globule today. I totally didn’t mind the lightheaded feeling that made me want to tie myself down to my chair all day. It was great to witness history and be part of it, virtually. Obama sure is a unique, one-of-a-kind human being.
In my mind, he’s Ba-Rock Star Obama. A commanding, charismatic, ultra-positive icon who has captured the imagination of kids, Generations X, Y and Z, Baby Boomers and seniors all—across color and creed, social status and political affiliation. He is the man of the moment who has them chanting and cheering and yelling for more. The energy he and his young family exude seems to have recharged America, if not the whole world.
So why write about Barack Obama in this sports column? Because he’s just the kind of energy we need for this time of year—a pepper upper, a fizz, a pow! It helps that he looks absolutely tuned in to sports, what with his well-buffed bod and well-known pickup games of basketball.
I actually tripped across an online article about Obama and his propensity for the game. A take-off from his book The Audacity of Hope, it’s called The Audacity of Hoops—a neat, incisive piece from Sports Illustrated’s Alexander Wolff that analyzes how much love and energy the Ba-Rock Star gives to the game that Filipinos love best.
It begins with: “The path is a familiar one: Ancestry in Kansas; influences from Africa; a kind of apotheosis in Michael Jordan’s Chicago; eventual acclamation by the world.” And while, no, basketball itself (wasn’t) sworn in (last) Tuesday as the 44th president of the US, the game has played an outsized role in forming the man who will. Basketball, says his brother-in-law, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, is why Barack Obama “is sitting where he’s sitting.”
It says: “The game provided space in which the young Obama explored his identity as an African-American. He won a reputation as a consensus builder while playing recreationally in college and law school.”
Obama’s game is said to be “old-school schoolyard: reverse lay-ups, double-pumps in the lane, mambos off the dribble and a signature fake-right, drive-left move.” He “shoots a decent midrange jumper, though his high-school nickname, Barry O’Bomber, is a misnomer.” “Ask whom he resembles, and an array of answers comes back. Claude Johnson, founder of the web site Baller-in-Chief.com, sees the elegance and even temper of San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker. Other comparisons are with “Kenny Anderson, Dick Barnett, Manu Ginóbili, Lionel Hollins and Delonte West (sans neck tattoos).”
The bro-in-law, Robinson, considers Obama’s givens—6’ 1 and 1/2”, savvy, lefthanded—and concludes he is most like NBA Hall of Famer/playmaker Lenny Wilkens, who “campaigned for Obama and whose autograph graces the basketball that decorated the President-elect’s spare Chicago transition office.” “..The calmness of Lenny, that’s Barack,” says Robinson.” He knows the game well enough to fit in and isn’t out of his element athletically.”
Obama’s basketball roots is said to show up in his stance, and his gait. Look closer and notice “a ballplayer’s bounce, a suppleness of foot that can be seen today when he bounds onto a stage.” A true sports lover, Garth Woolsey, another online sports writer, says Barack Obama comes into the US presidency “young, fit and active.” “He plays golf and basketball. His childhood idol was Julius Erving. His favorite team is the Chicago White Sox. His brother-in-law coaches college hoops. Obama works out, he’s lefthanded and he’s cool.”
And that brings us to another interesting thought. Could it be that the games that presidents play have an impact on their “ruling style”? Are sports-oriented presidents more alive and proactive than nonsports minded presidents?
As far as we know, Obama is the first truly basketball-playing president, and after JFK, one of those with a keen sporty image. George W. Bush was better known as a cheerleader in college but became a baseball team owner (The Texas Rangers) later in life. Bill Clinton was a passionate jogger. George Herbert Bush was—like Dwight Eisenhower, Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Hoover—a golf enthusiast. Ronald Reagan was a lifeguard. Jimmy Carter ran and played tennis in high school. Gerald Ford played football at Michigan U. And Harry Truman played poker. (Ha-ha.)
If there’s one real jock in the White House, that would have to be Teddy Roosevelt—an outdoorsman, who loved boxing, wrestling, tennis, golf, etc., who installed the first tennis court at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Next week : How do our local leaders compare?
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