NPR: Bryant Gumbel Talks Round Ball with Obama

Bryant Gumbel Talks Round Ball with Obama

OK, we know that Obama says he's got game on the basketball court. Bryant Gumbel tried to find out on Tuesday night on HBO's Real Sports.

It's a pretty interesting interview. Obama has loved basketball since his father gave him when he was eight on on one of the few trips his dad made to visit him in Hawaii. It became a passion and a refuge for Obama, and as he notes, one of the few places were it was OK to be black in an almost all white environment. His high school went on to win the Hawaii state championship in his varsity year -- when he was Barry Obama. (His old coach, interviewed for the piece, still calls him Barry.)

Then he went to college and forgot about the sport until he went to Harvard law school where he became addicted to pick-up basketball. When he met his wife, Michelle, asked her brother, former Princeton star and now coach at Oregon State Craig Robinson, to take him out on the court as a way to see if he "passed the test." He did.

The show also features some footage of Obama in a pickup game. He's pretty good actually.

But he's not the player he once was. As Robinson said in the interview, Obama "started out as a black player who played black and is now more of a black player who plays white, just so he doesn't hurt." Robinson added that after age 35, "We all play white." (Translation - slower and closer to the ground.)

Here's the interview:

12:53 PM ET | 04-16-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Maybe he can play against A-jad of Iran to try to "resolve differences" and with 3 seconds left Obama shoots a massive 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the game into overtime as A-jad pushes the button detonating his nuke to cleanse the world with his nuclear fire and usher in the Glorious New Era of the 12th Imam and the Global Caliphate.

Sent by deek | 3:07 PM ET | 04-16-2008

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