Baller-in-Chief

President Barack Obama, invited to deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame University, mentioned basketball within the first few seconds of his speech.

Here is the text of that portion:

I also want to congratulate the class of 2009 for all your accomplishments. And since this is Notre Dame, I mean both in the classroom and in the competitive arena. We all know about this university’s proud and storied football team, but I also hear that Notre Dame holds the largest outdoor 5-on-5 basketball tournament in the world — Bookstore Basketball.

Now this excites me. I want to congratulate the winners of this year’s tournament, a team by the name of “Hallelujah Holla Back.” Well done. Though I have to say, I am personally disappointed that the “Barack O’Ballers” didn’t pull it out. Next year, if you need a 6-foot, 2-inch forward with a decent jumper, you know where I live.

Judging from the reaction of the crowd and from the positive chatter about it on social networks like Twitter, this went over very well.

Here is the portion of the video in which the Baller-in-Chief mentions hoops: