Baller-in-Chief

(From Roger Runningen for Bloomberg Online)

U.S. President Barack Obama walks to his car with Secret Service Agents after a game of basketball with friends and aides on Nov. 26, 2010 at Fort McNair in Washington, DC. after he was injured during the game. Photographer: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama got 12 stitches in his lip after being injured yesterday during a basketball game, spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

“After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the president received 12 stitches,” Gibbs said in a statement. The stitches were administered by the White House medical unit.

Obama played basketball for about 90 minutes at a gym at Fort McNair in Washington yesterday. The injury to the president’s upper lip occurred in the fifth of five games when Rey Decerega, director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, turned to take a shot and elbowed Obama in the mouth.

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport,” Decerega said in a statement released by the White House. “I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.”

Also playing were Obama’s personal aide, Reggie Love, 29, a former college basketball player at Duke University; Education Secretary Arne Duncan, 46, who played in college on the Harvard University team and professionally in Australia; and family members and friends in Washington for Thanksgiving, according to the White House statement.

In treating the president’s upper lip, doctors used a smaller filament, which increases the number of stitches but makes a tighter stitch and results in a smaller scar, according to an e-mailed White House statement.

Obama, 49, received a local anesthetic for the stitches, the statement said.

Obama played basketball regularly during the 2008 presidential campaign and had a basketball court installed on the South Lawn of the White House. In addition to playing at Fort McNair, he plays at other local sites, including the Interior Department.

(From the Associated Press Online)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama needed 12 stitches in his lip after taking an errant elbow during a pickup basketball game today with a group of family and friends visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday, the White House said.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement that Obama was inadvertently struck by an elbow. The elbow’s owner wasn’t identified.

Obama received the stitches under local anesthesia in the doctor’s office on the ground floor of the White House after he returned home.

The president had traveled to nearby Fort McNair to indulge in one of his favorite athletic pursuits, basketball. It was a five-on-five contest involving family and friends and including Reggie Love, Obama’s personal assistant who played at Duke University.

Obama emerged from the building after about 90 minutes of play, wearing short-sleeve T-shirt and gym pants, and was seen dabbing at his mouth with what appeared to be a wad of gauze.

A few hours later, reporters who had gathered on the White House driveway for the arrival of the Christmas Tree saw the president in an upstairs window, pressing something white against his mouth.

Photo: AP

(From Abby Phillip for Politico.com)

12 stitches

A Thanksgiving weekend basketball game mishap Friday left President Barack Obama with a split lip and 12 stitches.

The president was elbowed in the mouth during a game with friends and family by Rey Decerega, who is the director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the White House reveled late on Friday.

Decerega, who played for the opposing team, turned into the president—who was playing defense—to take a shot and elbowed Obama in the lip during the last of five games at a gym at Fort McNair, a nearby Army base in Washington.

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport. I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning,” Decerega said in a statement. “I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.”

According to the press pool report, doctors gave the president a local anesthetic, then stitched his wound, using a smaller than normal medical filament, which required more stitches but will result in a smaller scar. The White House later clarified that the stitches were administered to the president’s upper lip.

“After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the President received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Obama was seen walking to the presidential motorcade with gauze to his mouth following the game, then watched from a window in the White House as first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia received the official White House Christmas tree later that afternoon.

Obama has no public events on his schedule until Monday.

The president, who has played hoops with elite players like the University of North.Carolina men’s team and assorted NBA all stars, frequently makes unannounced trips to play basketball or golf on weekends. On Monday Obama will attend meetings at the White House and on Tuesday, he will host congressional Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner, for the postponed bi-partisan leadership meeting.

(From Richard Wolf for The Oval at USA Today Online)

Obama gets 12 stitches after basketball action

President Obama holds his lip after getting an elbow during a basketball game Friday morning. He later received 12 small stitches at the White House under local anesthetic. Photo By Tim Sloan, AFP/Getty Images

Update at 5:30 p.m. ET: The man who (accidentally) elbowed President Obama in the face during a pick-up basketball game today — requiring a dozen stitches to the presidential upper lip — has come forward.

Rey Decerega, who is the director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, issued this statement:

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport. I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon,” Decerega said.

Update at 4:40 p.m. ET: Our colleague David Jackson reports that the White House has released more information:

The elbow to Obama’s lip “happened in the fifth of five games they played.”

The offending player, who remains nameless, “turned into POTUS, who was playing defense, to take a shot when the elbow hit the President in the mouth.”

Some of the players in today’s 5 v. 5 game–”none of whom were responsible for the elbow” to the president’s face–included Obama’s nephew Avery Robinson, Obama’s assistant Reggie Love and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Update at 2:45 p.m. ET: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president got 12 stitches in his lip in the basketball game this morning with Reggie Love and members of his family.

Gibbs’ statement said:

After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the President received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit.

Medical personnel used a smaller filament to close the wound than is typically used, the press office said.

That increases the number of stitches but makes a tighter stitch and results in a smaller scar. The president received a local anesthetic during the treatment.

Earlier post: Fresh from a big Thanksgiving dinner with family, friends and staff, President Obama awoke today and did what the rest of us should be doing: He got some exercise.

Given the wet weather in Washington, the choice this morning was an easy one. Rather than setting off for the golf links, Obama chose indoor basketball.

The president left the White House at 9:30 and is playing five-on-five at nearby Fort McNair with personal assistant and ex-Duke University hoops star Reggie Love, as well as family members in town for the holiday. No word on whether that includes Oregon State University head coach Craig Robinson, the brother of first lady Michelle Obama.

(From the Washington Post Online)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Miami’s slower-than-expected start is a talking point around the NBA. Around the White House, too.

And the nation’s First Fan says the Heat will need time to reach their best.

President Barack Obama – who wasn’t thrilled that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade turned down the Chicago Bulls this summer – told ABC’s Barbara Walters that when it comes to the Heat, it would be prudent for fans to be patient.

“It takes some time for the team to come together,” Obama said. “There’s no ‘I’ in team. So no matter how good a player is, no matter how good a group of players are, if they haven’t played together before they are not going to be as good as a team that has played together a long time.”

The Heat dropped to 8-7 with a 104-95 loss in Orlando on Wednesday night.