Hoops Fans Await Jump Shots at White House

Obama has traded basketball for golf

(NEWSER) - The old Obama played hoops—and he did it quite well. So why do we keep seeing him on golf courses? Since he took office, the one-time "Baller-in-Chief" has played basketball about seven times, compared to 25 rounds of golf. The White House has remained mum on what's behind the change, and won't say why the televised games on the court have turned into secretive, no-press-allowed sessions on the course—but that hasn't stopped critics from analyzing, and bashing, his game. More»

Golfing buddies impressed with Obama's sang-froid

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama, an avid golfer who usually shoots in the mid-90s and avoids short cuts, took up the sport when wife Michelle worried about basketball injuries. Obama’s golfing buddies describe his game for Golf Digest:

• Competitive: “He was a beginner, and sometimes he had to take the whupping. But he never liked it,” said Sen. James Clayborne Jr.
• Unflappable: "If he duffs one dead into the woods, there's no cursing. The most excited we get on the golf course is a fist bump," said Marvin Nicholson, a newly appointed Obama assistant.

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama’s beloved basketball may be the most “accessible and democratic” of sports, but “the game will change once the oath of office is administered,” Andrew Stengel writes for the Huffington Post. “Unlike the checks and balances in our three branches of government, there may be a unitary executive who rules on the court.” Stengel, who played with New York governor Mario Cuomo, lays out three rules for survival when playing against the chief executive. More»

President-elect's basketball jones subject of intense speculation

(NEWSER) - With inauguration approaching, Washington is gripped by an all-important question, the New York Daily News reports: Where will Barack Obama play basketball? Will he keep his campaign promise to build a court in the White House? Will he play at a nearby military base? Or, as rumor has it, hit the glass-enclosed court at the upscale gym where Condoleezza Rice works out? More»

Special interest groups want to pick Obamas' puppy, church, chef

(NEWSER) - With the incoming first family's private decisions being scrutinized as breathlessly as the president-elect's cabinet picks, you already know about the battle over the puppy, and the private-or-public-school competition. New York reports on three other hotly contested issues:

• The French-trained chef hired by Laura Bush may be replaced to reflect the incoming multiculturalism, but by whom? On the short list are Oprah's former chef and that of the Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony.