Its no secret that President Obama is a college hoops fan and it should surprise no one that he follows the game pretty closely. So closely in fact that many nerdy overly political folks think they have a right to criticize the Chief Executive for having any free time away from the post as leader of the free world. I am not one of those folks to say the least. I appreciate that President Obama is a normal dude – even if his normal dude-ness only extends to this one area. I’m glad that sports or specifically basketball can serve as the one medium for bringing him back to planet Earth with the rest of us. All that being said, I would venture to guess that Kentucky basketball fans are less than pleased with the President’s decision to offer his unsolicited advice / encouragement before last night’s game versus South Carolina. He called the Wildcats to thank them for their contributions to the Haiti relief efforts and decided to talk a little basketball with them while he had them on the line.
But before things could wrap up, Obama had this to say about the Wildcats recent ascendancy to that number 1 spot:
“There is that tendency once you get to number one to let down a little bit.”
Now I don’t know how many of you out there are sports fans, but for those of you who are not… Kentucky fell to South Carolina last night and will inevitably fall from the number one ranking as well. Was a Presidential jinx to blame? I think its a little more likely that the Leader of the Free World may have simply overinflated their egos a bit and they let down, but if I know anything about the State of Kentucky and the people of the Blue Grass state, they’re not seeing it that way today. I’d take it a step further and say that they won’t be seeing it that way now, next week, next month or any time into the future. In fact, as the Senate race to replace Senator Jim Bunning intensifies, I would have to advise the President not to hit the stump there if he thinks he will help his party’s chances. Kentucky folks don’t just let these things go Mr. President. This is UK man.
You can watch video here…
Pete Iacobelli – Boston Globe
“Your leadership has inspired us all,” Patterson said.
Then Calipari told Obama freshman sensation John Wall wanted to speak.
“What’s going on all-star?” the president said. “I’ve been watching you.”
Wall invited Obama to watch Kentucky play in person and suggested a game of “HORSE.”
“I’m not going to play horse with you,” Obama replied, “because I don’t want to lose.”
