The Team
Barack Obama will, of course, be the nation’s first serious NBA fan in the White House. And it seems that Michael Crowley has the real truth about his alleged “team of rivals” — it’s actually a team of ballers:
Jones played forward at Georgetown. Geithner reportedly likes himself a good pickup game. And the Times says Eric Holder was once known, impressively, for his "easy dunk." (Cracks EC: "Not even Janet Reno could do that."
That’s the crux of the matter, but make sure you click through for a solid Stephon Marbury joke. And it seems Janet Napolitano has done some coaching.
A hoops-oriented administration could really redraw the diplomatic map. Traditional US allies like Britain and German aren’t big on basketball. But Spain, whose relations with the United States have been strained ever since Zapatero withdrew Spanish forces from Iraq, has probably the world’s second-best league. And of course rival great powers like Russia and China and important basketball forces. And our entire policy toward Latin America could be reoriented around a partnership with Argentina.
41 Responses to “The Team”
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 am
A hoops-oriented administration could really redraw the diplomatic map.
We’d have to double the size of the U.S. embassy in Lithuania.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 am
Or we could try soccer, which nearly EVERYONE else in the world plays…
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 am
Speaking of hoops-oriented, I finally have an on-topic opportunity to post my basketball game…
Be The Coach Basketball
I used the basketball database MY posted a while back to generate the player names. The “Angry Coach” character is loosely based on Matt!
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
i worry that this could lead to a pro-serbian tilt.
politically, they’re horrible actors within europe, but they keep breeding big centers….
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:20 am
But seriously … in a hard-to-describe way it may be good that America will have a President whose main sports interest is in basketball, a sport played worldwide, rather than in America-only football.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Germany not big on basketball? Dirk Nowitzki is huge in Germany.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
So basketball has replaced golf as the social sport of choice for the DC elite? A brave new world we’re living in!!
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:31 am
Susan Rice– high school point guard (Condi Rice, piano?)
George Bush–Yale cheerleader.
I assume the CAP farm team has been in training on the basketball court so as to be able to hit the ground running.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
Thank goodness it’s not touch football!
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:50 am
But Spain, whose relations with the United States have been strained ever since Zapatero withdrew Spanish forces from Iraq, has probably the world’s second-best league.
Igloo those hoops bona fides are shining bright, even a better than casual hoops fan wouldn’t have known this about Spain…impressive, don’t digress!
k1
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Barack is the first “urban” President in a long time, so it’s appropriate–hoops being the urban game (apologies to the Indiana farm boys who used to think it was their game).
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
Matthew,
Please, please, watch your slang.
Do you know what a “baller” is?
It doesn’t mean “basketball player.” But it does refer to Wilt Chamberlain.
OMFG…I swear…God love you bespectacled white MF’s from Harvard. You do make my day.
Perhaps you might check in with Ta-Nehisi before getting down with the street lingo.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Fuck that. Baseball is the game of the gods, perfect in suspense and geometry and anything else is blasphemy.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:57 am
I don’t buy it until I see Bill Bradley get a job.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Dirk Nowitzki is huge in Germany.
To be accurate, he’s pretty huge anywhere he goes.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
There has to be a place in the administration for Charles Barkley.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Why does Obama play in long pants? Away from the court he always looks like a cool guy, but on the court he looks like That Guy in Long Pants at your local pickup game. Is it because he doesn’t want to get into the sociopolitical implications of how long to wear your shorts? Old dudes can wear shorts that are a little above the knee, it’s cool.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Nixon and Ford were definitely football presidents. I’m not sure about the presidents between Carter and Clinton, inclusive.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I have to take the McCainian approach to Spain, whose national team (teams, actually) propagated racist actions in Beijing this year and deserve to be lumped in with those other evil axes.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I too question the pants. Maybe he fears accidental exposure of the family gems. Understandable.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Spain … has probably the world’s second-best league.
If you count the Euroleague, the basketball equivalent of soccer’s Champions League, as a “league” in and of itself, then that would be the second-best.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Please, please, watch your slang. Do you know what a “baller” is? It doesn’t mean “basketball player.” But it does refer to Wilt Chamberlain.
Someone tell John Mason, the rapper-turned-PA announcer at the Palace, then. He’s been introducing the Pistons as “the ballers who represent De-troit” for several years now.
Obviously, the term has both meanings.
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Don’t forget his body man — and Duke alum — Reggie Love!
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
A lot of the top basketball teams in Europe are part of sporting clubs or owners that have both soccer and basketball. CSKA Moscow (Russia), Real Madrid (Spain), Olympiacos (Greece) and Fenerbahce (Turkey) [among others] all have elite teams in both both soccer and basketball run under the same umbrella.
I think many other countries have a much more general concept of ’sport’ than the US, which looks at sports like many pieces of an entertainment pie on the professional level and like something like day care on the youth level. Sport for sporting purposes doesn’t get much respect in the US.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:18 pm
You aren’t gonna believe this, but Spanish PM Zapatero is also a basketball junkie. I guess he doesn’t have a chance against Obama, but at least the guy knows how to get injured playing with his friends. Basketball diplomacy?
Link in Spanish.
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:39 am
Leee:
No, they didn’t. Inform yourself instead of listening to the strongly spinned opinions about a (admittedly) stupid photo that tried to destabilize the Spanish team.
They weren’t being racist. They thought they were paying homage to the Chinese. Racist?. No. Stupid?. Yes. Them, and anybody that believes the BS that the Spanish players are racist because of that photo.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Baller, yes they did engage in racist actions, though clearly context matters. The ethnic Chinese population in Spain is pretty negligible from what I’ve been able to ascertain, so the Spanish relate differently to them than Americans do to its Chinese population. And while Chinese nationals were puzzled by the gesture, I can tell you from personal experience that slanting your eyes is exceptionally offensive in a Chinese-American context, and anyone who tries to excuse the ads and the team’s subsequent excuse-making (Calderon tried to cover himself with the “I have Chinese friends” chestnut, automatic fail in my book) as an innocent-if-misguided-gesture really negates my experiences in a program that denies, effaces, and marginalizes non-European realities.
Also note that I never have and never will accuse the Spanish team of being racists, I just want to send Jeff Gillooly after them all for their racist actions.
December 4th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I have a cousin who plays in a Japanese pro league.
Obviously, he should be the new ambassador.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:03 am
Team Obama has the height, but does it have the moves?
See http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/hoops-holder/
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December 16th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Here’s hoping after a major policy speech, Arne Duncan can make the same face as Larry Johnson, though I’ll settle for someone breaking a podium in triumph!
December 17th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Why don’t the major media list all Arte Duncan’s accomplishments? He also played for the Rhode Island Gulls, New Jersey Jammers (USBL), Latrobe (NW Tasmania League), and Melbourne’s old Eastside Spectres (National Basketball League).
Now don’t think because he played Australian ball that he takes free throws from down under …
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