Bush's Brush With Olympic History

President Bush's visit to the US women’s volleyball team sparked a quirky photo and Internet sensation today, Andrew Malcolm blogs in the Los Angeles Times. After Bush took tips from two gold medalist players, he made a fine play—and volleyballer Misty May-Treanor bent over to let him slap her backside in the style of women volleyballers.

The president raised his hand but "wisely chose instead to brush his hand across the small of May-Treanor's back," Malcolm blogs. A Reuters caption misreported it as Bush patting her "backside," but changed it to "back" 8 minutes later. "That English language can be tricky, can't it?" Malcolm asks. "'Back' and 'backside' are so similar but seem to have completely different connotations." (More volleyball stories.)