And George H.W. Smith, who worked for the 41st president, thinks he may have been the best all-around athlete ever to sit in the Oval Office. "Oh, that's easy," he told a reporter last year. A basketball nut, the president supports his hometown team the Chicago Bulls, and has said that whenever he gets a spare moment to relax he likes to check out their progress in the sports pages. Though a mediocre hitter, Bush was the teams best fielder, compiling a .992 fielding percentage in 1948, according to Yalebulldogs.com. They both demand that you marshal all of your resourcesintellectual, physical, moral and spiritual, he says. In 1981, Obama faced one of the biggest tragedy of his life when his father got into a car accident and lost his legs in result of that mishap. Granted, it was without a hand in his face, but even that outside stroke paid dividends: Obamas famous pickup games over the years were a whos who made up of former college players like personal aide Reggie Love (who played at Duke), ex-Illinois treasurer Alexi Giannoulias a former pro player in Greece and former Secretary of Education and Harvard co-captain Arne Duncan, who played countless games with Obama over the past few decades. Obama is a fan of the Chicago White Sox, the Major League Baseball team from the northside of the c. Today continues a multi-part series by noted writer Curt Smith, who wrote more speeches than anyone else for former President George H.W. U.S. Presidents and the Sports They Played - HISTORY Oval Office Athletes: Presidents and the Sports They Played From Gerald Ford's football days to Barack Obama's basketball game to. After becoming President, Barack Obama delivered his first State of the Union Speech in 2010. Soccer. Jon Stewarts smackdown of CNBCs Jim Cramer? However, there was no close relationship or father-son bonding between Obama and his father. In 1955 future president Ronald Reagan hosted an ABC special, Tomorrowland, to debut Disneyland theme park in Southern California. It's because of his good looks!" Obama's not launching any culture wars over TV these days, and, in fact, uses it to show off his pop-culture cool. How good was he back then? Just a few examples: her record . As the story goes, it was this meeting that led to the creating of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. michelles obamas whole family favorite sport is swimming,and most favorite is playing tennise her favorite food is Mexican food and drink. But he had incredible self-discipline and determination.. Though Eisenhower is mostly remembered for his long and distinguished military career (he was a five-star general that was considered a war hero by many) and his time spent as President of the United States, sports were as big a part of his life as anything else during his younger years and he remained a fan throughout his adult life. Malia and I recently finished reading the Harry Potter series out loud to each other." ("That's not an endorsement," he hastily added.). Afterwards, his mother got married with Lolo Soetoro in 1965 and moved to Indonesia, where his step sister was born named Maya Soetoro. He had a pretty good shot and really handled the ball well.. First was the centrality of Jackie Robinson, in 1947 cracking baseballs color barrier. A couple of times during the campaign, we would have these Sunday night calls at the same time as Entourage, Gibbs recalled. He played on his high school team and dreamed of becoming a professional ballplayer one day. Clearly, he believed in Ecclesiastes a time for every season., On January 16, 2017, four days before Obama left office, an otherworldly event for any Chicagoan, even a White Sox fan, occurred. At a recent town hall in California, Obama joked with one man in the crowd who . In common with everyone else in the television-watching universe, or at least those who write for newspapers, Obama has declared that his favourite show is The Wire, citing in particular the gay, ber-violent thief Omar, whom he called "the toughest, baddest guy on the show", as his favourite character. Hes the Internet president, hes the BlackBerry president, and now, I suppose, he could be called the HBO president. Obama likes Entourage so much he even rearranged his campaign schedule not to miss an episode. The tenacity and resolve that Lincoln developed through wrestling undoubtedly came in handy when he had to lead the Union in the Civil War. Bush in 1947. Obama is the only president to have admitted to having used cocaine, writing in his autobiography Dreams From My Father that, along with pot and booze, he'd dabbled in "maybe a little blow, when [I] could afford it". Gibbs has a photograph of Obama watching his first briefing on a small television not a flat screen in the White House residence. Like the Queen and her children, back when anybody cared about them, Obama's endorsements now function a little like royal warrants, lending instant desirability to whatever brand of trainer or loo roll that this new taste Midas deigns to touch. I think other teams would have been just fine with a spell like thatthe Cubs, for example, their last title then 1908. He wanted to take the big shot he wouldnt force one, wouldnt take a bad one but after passing and cutting and deferring, all of a sudden he would turn the corner, go to the basket and score, or pump-fake and knock down a shot. Were not talking about work or politics. Obamas diagnosis: The losing team should have played half-court defense. Don't you just hate bandwagon-jumpers? When he has a few moments, Obama is known to go searching for highlights of basketball games on SportsCenter, a show he has watched religiously for years. Change is never easy, but always possible. That phrase turns out ironic. 2. Sign up for the For The Win newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. By the way, Obama apparently went to the same gym as the White Sox GM, Kenny Williams, and would bug him with ideas for trades. Before Obama, six presidents had tapped 17 men and women to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Americas highest civilian award. But when youre the president, you dont just watch TV you are TV. After Chicagos 2005 Series sweep, Obama rose in the Senate to note that its four victories were won by a total of six runs. It worked. All Rights Reserved. I made a resolution many years ago that I wasnt going to do resolutions anymore. He won a Grammy Award for best spoken word album for The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father. Even after becoming president, Roosevelt engaged in sparring sessions with some of his White House aides and other opponents. After one year, his father died due to another car accident in Nairobi. He then took his game to Occidental College, where former coach Mike Zinn had this to say to the Los Angeles Times in 2008: He was really athletic, ran good, jumped good, says Zinn, who left coaching about 20 years ago and is a partner in an Orange County sales agency. His favoured brand is said to be the tonsil-scraping classics Marlboro Reds, whose nicotine-heavy charms may explain why he has found giving up such a challenge. On the campaign trail, as soon as we would get on the bus, the first thing he would do is turn the channel to sports channels.. Beside his political life, Obama married Michelle Robinson in 1992. President Barack Obama is a fitness freak. "I'm a movie guy," he said when pressed to pick just one, "I can rattle off a bunch of movies.". Ill also submit this video for evidence that Obamas jumper either improved with age or was better than previously thought in 2010, he took down Clark Kellogg in a game of HORSE with a series of college threes (and some trash talk). It's no secret that the current President of the United States is as big of a basketball fan as you'll see. After a sickly childhood, Teddy Roosevelt determinedly built up his body with vigorous exercise. Obamas father belonged to Kenya who received an educational scholarship which enabled him to travel to United States. Gordon Brown simpered, the Queen practically cooed, Silvio Berlusconi seemed a little giddy in the strength of his affection. That was on display when he seized the opportunity to meet Usain Bolt, the worlds fastest man, during a visit to Jamaica. That was the time, when Obama gather all his courage to prove himself in front of the world. Barack Obama. She has spent countless hours . Hoover, if he had played football or been a team player in some other sport, might have had a different approach, Watterson says. What is Obama's favorite sports team? ABC News aptly stated that the most powerful man on earth geeks out during those moments. As the two men grappled, the short, muscular Armstrong tried to get in close and overpower Lincoln, but Lincolnwho despite his wiry build, was renowned for his strengthheld him off with his long arms. On the football team Eisenhower was a varsity starter at both running back and linebacker and would later serve as junior varsity football coach and cheerleader. Sometimes hell even tune in to watch Gibbs briefings. And that can be big stuff or tiny stuff no one ever notices., Duncan added Obama is better going to the basket, but that he can hit open shots from the outside. When games were close, when things were tough, he wanted the ball in his hands. (Thats not an endorsement. Oregon State is coached by. Accordingly, I thought it better to acknowledge that I had become an elderly man and would have to stop boxing. But not one to give up combat sports completely, Roosevelt then switched to learning the Japanese martial art of jiu-jitsu. Click for Barack Obama Height Weight Shoe Size. The former first lady, 55, was named one of PEOPLEs four People of the Year in this weeks issue, where she discusses her book, her marriage and more. But Nixon became more famous as a bowler. As a student at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama was part of the basketball team that won the state championship in 1979. He held his own.. The U.S. senator from Illinois was both policy wonk and celebrity. Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ford knew throughout his childhood that he wanted to play football for the great University of Michigan. It turns out Obama scaled back on hoops toward the end of his second term and turned more to golf. For less R-rated fare, he tunes into Hannah Montana or SpongeBob SquarePants in the White House with his daughters. Never mind the Queen - what everyone wants right now is an endorsement from the US president. Theres also Obamas lifelong love affair with basketball which is well-known, but reminiscing about his presidency also conjures up images of the first Black president on some of the worlds best golf courses. He was left-handed. Clearly, he believed in Ecclesiastes a time for every season.. / CBS Miami. To CBS's Katie Couric, he declared it to be Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, while in an interview with US Weekly magazine last year he said: "The books I never tire of are the ones I read with my daughters. Football, boxing, fencing, gymnastics and even horse racing were some of the sports that Eisenhower enjoyed playing while attending school.