Baller-in-Chief

(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 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 BeachFrontNews.com)

President Barack Obama means business, at least on the basketball court. In addition to building a new hoops court on the White House South Lawn (to which he’s invited LeBron James and other NBA pros to play), he has assembled what he says is ”the best basketball-playing cabinet in American history.”

Separation of power (forwards): Obama jockeys for a rebound during an October 8th game with members of Congress and his cabinet

Some prominent administration officials who also have the hops include: Attorney General Eric Holder, co-captain of his high school team (the “Peglegs”) and a freshman player at Columbia University; Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who, at 6’5”, was co-captain of Harvard’s varsity squad, and played professionally for Australia’s National Basketball League; General James Jones, the National Security Adviser, who stands 6’4” and was a forward for the Georgetown University Hoyas; UN Ambassador Susan Rice, a feisty 5’3” but a star hoops player when she attended Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral School, where she was nicknamed “Spo” (short for “Sporting”); Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and now chairman of Obama’’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, played basketball for Princeton.

And, of course, there’s the Baller-in-Chief himself, an avid hoops player when he attended school in Honolulu who would dribble and bounce a ball between classes (and where he was nicknamed Barry O’Bomber because of his devastating “jump shot”).

(From USA Today Online)

President Obama’s back-to-school event next month will features a couple of other famous names, basketball superstar LeBron James and best-selling singer Kelly Clarkson.

All three will appear in a 30-minute documentary to be broadcast on more than 20 cable television networks, urging students to stay in school and use education to reach for their dreams.

According to a release about the program, called Get Schooled: It’s Your Right, Obama plans to say:

“So as this new school year begins, I urge you to set goals for your own education: To study hard and get involved in your school, to try new things and find something you’re passionate about.

“And that’s how our nation will get ahead — by ensuring that every American gets a world-class education, from preschool to college to a career.”

The program will be seen Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. ET on cable outlets that include BET, MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike TV and Nickelodeon

All of those are Viacom networks, which is sponsoring a new initiative along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The five-year “Get Schooled” campaign is designed to improve high school and college graduation rates.

The three headliners — Obama, Clarkson, and James — will be accompanied by high-level aides who will discuss how school helped them forge careers.

They are White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz, Clarkson music director Jason Halbert, and James marketing assistant Latesha Williams.