What Happened to Our Basketballer-in-Chief?

(NEWSER) - It's no secret that Barack Obama is an avid hoopster and that his presidency could usher in an era of basketball diplomacy, but a New York Times feature on the politics of presidential sports notes a potential hurdle for the president-elect: He's inheriting a cruddy basketball court. Little-used since Bush the elder installed it outside in 1991, the court is small, suffers a weathered and cracked surface, and has but one hoop. More»

Also, he once beat Maya Moore at HORSE

(NEWSER) - President Obama wants you to know that he had his eye on Jeremy Lin before it was cool. Obama sat down with Bill Simmons for a half-hour of sports talk on today's BS Report (audio here ), and the first question was how he felt about being America's second most famous Harvard grad. "I knew about Jeremy before you did, or everybody else did," Obama shot back, explaining that he got the heads up from former Harvard basketball captain (and current Secretary of Education) Arne Duncan. "So I've been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while." 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»

Basketball has played an important role in Obama's life

(NEWSER) - These days Barack Obama's more likely to be rubbing elbows at a fundraiser than throwing elbows on the court, but pickup basketball is his game, and he's damn good, Jodi Kantor reports in the New York Times. He's quick, wily and aggressive on the court, with a left-handed jump shot that catches other players off guard. More»