MiamiHeat
08-08-2010, 09:16 PM
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/story/2010/08/08/sp-obama-bball.html
U.S. President Barack Obama is about nine inches shorter than the Miami Heat's Chris Bosh, but on Sunday he got to strut his stuff on the court alongside Bosh's Heat teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Obama joined with several of the best in the National Basketball Association for a pickup game played for injured troops at the Fort McNair base in Washington, D.C.
The list of NBA players who also took the court, according to the New York Times, included Chauncey Billups, Derek Fisher, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, David West and Pau Gasol. Also taking part were recently retired Alonzo Mourning and collegiate star Maya Moore of the Connecticut Huskies, the women's team that has won its last 78 games.
Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Magic Johnson were on hand to watch and meet the troops, as was NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, who just underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and is also mending a finger injury.
The reporters assigned to keep tabs on the president were shut out of the gym, forced to wait in vans outside. Asked why media coverage was blocked, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama "just wanted to play."
Obama, who turned 49 earlier this week, on the 2008 campaign trail kept up a superstition of playing a pickup game the day of each primary. He has attended games in recent months featuring Duke, his hometown Chicago Bulls, and on Aug. 1 took youngest daughter Sasha to see the WNBA's Washington Mystics.
Obama's brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is head men's basketball coach at Oregon State.
Robinson's sister, first lady Michelle Obama, is vacationing with Sasha in Spain, while the Obamas' older daughter, Malia, is away at summer camp.
With files from The Associated Press
U.S. President Barack Obama is about nine inches shorter than the Miami Heat's Chris Bosh, but on Sunday he got to strut his stuff on the court alongside Bosh's Heat teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Obama joined with several of the best in the National Basketball Association for a pickup game played for injured troops at the Fort McNair base in Washington, D.C.
The list of NBA players who also took the court, according to the New York Times, included Chauncey Billups, Derek Fisher, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, David West and Pau Gasol. Also taking part were recently retired Alonzo Mourning and collegiate star Maya Moore of the Connecticut Huskies, the women's team that has won its last 78 games.
Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Magic Johnson were on hand to watch and meet the troops, as was NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, who just underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and is also mending a finger injury.
The reporters assigned to keep tabs on the president were shut out of the gym, forced to wait in vans outside. Asked why media coverage was blocked, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama "just wanted to play."
Obama, who turned 49 earlier this week, on the 2008 campaign trail kept up a superstition of playing a pickup game the day of each primary. He has attended games in recent months featuring Duke, his hometown Chicago Bulls, and on Aug. 1 took youngest daughter Sasha to see the WNBA's Washington Mystics.
Obama's brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is head men's basketball coach at Oregon State.
Robinson's sister, first lady Michelle Obama, is vacationing with Sasha in Spain, while the Obamas' older daughter, Malia, is away at summer camp.
With files from The Associated Press