Goin' political on ya

Hey, the headline was our very best Sarah Palin imitation as we're trying to balance out the following. The bottom line is that we will be very happy if a basketball court and playing hoops becomes part of the daily routine of the inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Let's say it's long overdue.

Obama's other running mate: a basketball
Shooting hoops has become a key ritual of his campaign. And if he wins? The White House bowling alley may have to go.
Peter Nicholas
Los Angeles Times
October 4, 2008

WASHINGTON — On the morning of the biggest speech of his life, Barack Obama found himself, quite literally, sidelined.

Obama shot baskets by himself at the Denver Athletic Club, talking trash to his friends as they ran the basketball court in what had become a campaign ritual, the pickup hoops game.

Worried that he might get elbowed in the jaw hours before he was to accept the Democratic presidential nomination before 80,000 people, the players convinced Obama he'd better sit this one out.

"There was a particular concern about not wanting him to turn up with a busted lip," said Alan S. King, a Chicago attorney and a regular in Obama's movable basketball games. "That's the only time he's ever done that."

On some of the most momentous days on the election calendar, Obama has defused the tension by hitting the basketball court. The tradition began the day of the Iowa caucuses in January. Obama set up a game while nervously awaiting the results, knowing that a poor showing in the caucuses might kill his campaign...

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