(From Devona Walker for TheLoop21.com)
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This is a long video, but halfway in is Craig Robinson, the first brother-in-law, talking about Obama’s basketball game and his bracketology. (Read about how the NCAA tournament exploits black athletes and about HBCUs that were in it this year.)
To check out Obama’s bracket, click here.
We already know a few things about Obama and his game from the campaign trail. The story goes that when he and Michelle first started dating she brought him home to meet the family. Her overprotective brother, Robinson — who is now head men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University — wanted to measure up her sister’s new man. He thought the best way to do this was by playing a game of basketball.
“You can tell a lot about a man by the way he plays basketball,” Robinson said.
Obama’s on-the-court skills sufficiently impressed big brother. Barry gets Michelle. A little more than a decade later, Barry gets the White House, too. In short, Barry’s got game.
Is there an on-the-court, off-the-court connection?
In governing, Obama’s like a Zen master. He is imperturbable. His pants could be on fire and he would say, “Well, you know what, I think I need a glass of water.” This infuriates his GOP critics and the inside-the-beltway media crowd. But it works to his advantage with voters and Americans who feel comforted by steady hands and a cool head.
He also has a gift for the oratory, for connecting with people, for explaining things.
His on-the-court game does seem to connect with his governing style. He talks a little trash on the court, showing some of his gift of gab, but in a good-natured way. He’s not one of those prima donna crybabies protesting over every call (think the Congressional GOP). Nor is he one of those flailing arm dramatists who practically falls out everytime they are touched (think our last black, major White House contender, Jesse Jackson.)
He’s got a nice outside shot and ball control, something that clearly comes with the territory of being an aging athlete. He’s one of the endurance-over-speed, T-shirt drenched, after-work, concrete-court-ruling crowd, but smarter. He plays like a man who is aware of his physical limitations but not bound by them.
His endurance is all determination and discipline. Not such bad qualities to have in a president, are they?
Our first baller-in-chief didn’t fair all that well on the first day of the tournament. Like many folks, he picked top-seeded Illinois over Western Kentucky. Then, he came up short, looking for VCU to upset UCLA. Long-term, I think Obama underestimated the University of Oklahoma. This sophomore they have by the name of Blake Griffin is the hands-down best college player in the world right now. And Pittsburgh, on a good day, can easily outplay UNC. But Pittsburgh also has a tendency to choke.
Obama did much better Monday than he did last week. At present, 14 of his top 16 picks are still in the running. Not bad.
The most telling pick by the president, I think, is UNC over Duke to make it to the Final Four. This is a total man of the people call. The legendary feud between UNC and Duke is classic aristocrat v. proletariat fare.
What does it mean to have a player in the White House?
“Sports is the only true meritocracy that we have,” said Scott Burroughs, a good friend and avid sports fan. “It means you got what you got based on merit. Our past president became president because his dad was president. But Michael Jordan is a great basketball player, not because his dad was a great basketball player. He worked hard. That’s why he was a great basketball player. And that’s one of the greatest things about sports. And it’s something that every sports fan knows and appreciates.”
Obama was born of a foreign-national father, raised partially by a single parent, worked his way through school, and became the first black man to edit the Harvard Law Review. His story is so simple and pure, it’s as if it were ripped out of an Horatio Alger novel. His commitment toward education, even in the face of huge budgetary obstacles and his own biography, should give us all an idea about where his heart is.
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