Obama: The Audacity of Sports

WASHINGTON -- Rather astonishingly, I wasn't invited to sing with Bono, pray with the bishops, party with Hollywood or hoop it with Barack O'Balla. Truth be told, I traveled to D.C. for a business dinner, which allowed me just enough time to absorb the audacity of hope and love and change -- and for a street peddler to offer me some ratty knockoff of a certain jersey from Punahou High School.

"Twenty dollars," he said.

No, thanks. I'm going to wait for the Nike Zoom Barack IV Hypermax MVP Blue Chip Shox Vision TB sneakers to come out. Even as Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th U.S. president, on a dreamy day for humankind when the earth quivers and optimism trumps futility and fear, it's mind-blowing that so much of Obamarama involves sports. We might know more about his basketball career -- please, he's a YMCA journeyman whom opponents are afraid to foul because the Secret Service is watching -- than we do about his economic stimulus plan. We know he has promised to fix the Bowl Championship Series and make sense of college football. We know his favorite athlete growing up was Julius Erving, who "had those old Nets shorts with the socks up to here." We know he's an intense White Sox fan who still wears a gnarly cap and often questions the team's general manager, Ken Williams, about the condition of the pitching staff. We know he dared to upset Cubs fans, the more upscale Chicago constituency, when he stereotyped them thusly: "You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren't watching the game. It's not serious. White Sox, that's baseball. South Side."

Just last week, when he arrived at the Washington Post for a round of editorial sessions, Obama barked, "I want to talk about the Redskins and the Nationals." Which was no different than last year in Boston, when he marveled at the run of New England sports championships and asked, "What's in the water?" Or when he visited Philadelphia in early October and said, "My White Sox are gone, so I'll go ahead and root for the Phillies now." Or when he visited Florida later that month and said, "I have said from the beginning that I'm a unity candidate, bringing people together. So when you see a White Sox fan showing some love for the Rays and the Rays showing some love back, you know we're onto something."

We've seen him go shirtless and show off abs honed by workouts. We've seen him golf -- and "I don't think it was real pretty," said his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. We've seen him play billiards -- and lose when he knocked in the 8-ball. We've seen him try to bowl -- and gutter-ball his way to a 41. We've seen him do a pre-game promo for 'Monday Night Football' -- "I am ready ... for the Bears to go all the way, baby. Duh-duh-duh-duhhhhh," followed by the disarming smile that could melt an 80-year-old nun.

He pours through sports news. He watches SportsCenter and debate shows. His brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is the Oregon State basketball coach who got a call from You Know Who after the Beavers upset USC. If a major Web site such as America Online offered Obama a weekly sports column, I honestly believe he'd think about it. I'll offer him this space if he wants to write a Super Bowl column, assuming the NFL credentials him. Hell, I'll offer him a spot on ESPN's 'Around The Horn,' which will one-up colleague J.A. Adande after he brought Snoop Dogg to the set two months ago. I can help turn the president into a sports geek, sure.

OK, I know what you're thinking: When is Obama going to stop the economic bleeding, address two wars and withdraw troops from Iraq if he's so immersed in sports? As he said over the weekend, "I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many." My view: Sports is precisely the diversion this president needs to keep himself sane. The last two presidents dabbled in sports -- George W. Bush was a game-watcher who once owned the Texas Rangers, Bill Clinton snuck in a few "Whooo! Pig! Sooeys!" as he followed his beloved Arkansas Razorbacks. But Obama is more passionate, clued in and cognizant of how sports weaves through the national fabric and provides millions of Americans with entertainment and a sense of identity. Of course, if he lags behind in running the country, his hobby will give critics a convenient reason to scold him.

But I'd prefer to think his sports Jones is healthy in so many ways. Already, Obama's ascent has forged a new political awareness in the sports world and prompted athletes to step forward. Take Tiger Woods, the world's pre-eminent athlete. It was the dream of his late father, Earl Woods, that Tiger would become a world leader. He even compared his son to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, telling Sports Illustrated, "Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity ... Because he's qualified through his ethnicity to accomplish miracles. He's the bridge between the East and the West. There is no limit, because he has the guidance. I don't know yet exactly what form this will take. But he is the Chosen One. He'll have the power to impact nations. Not people. Nations. The world is just getting a taste of his power."

The ambition never was shared by Tiger. When asked about a possible political career last year, he said, "Hell, no. Noooooo. No. Uh-uh. Next." But when Obama was elected as the true Chosen One, Woods was energized. "I think it's absolutely incredible," Woods told CNBC. "He represents America. He's multiracial. I was hoping it would happen in my lifetime. My father was hoping it would happen in his lifetime, but he didn't get to see it. I'm lucky enough to have seen a person of color in the White House."

So there was Eldrick on Sunday, a grown man humbled by fatherhood, actually sounding a bit nervous as he stood before the multitudes at the Lincoln Memorial and performed his two-minute contribution for Obama. He wasn't exactly a revved-up activist, nor was he Bruce Springsteen singing 'The Rising,' but he did offer his thoughts about the military and referenced his father, who served in Vietnam and later with the U.S. Army Special Forces.

"Each day -- and particularly on this historic day -- we honor the men and women in uniform who serve our country and protect our freedom," Woods said. "They travel to the dangerous corners of the world, and we must remember that for every person who is in uniform, there are families who wait for them to come home safely. I am honored that the military is such an important part, not just of my personal life, but of my professional life as well. The golf tournament we do each year here in Washington is a testament to those unsung heroes. I am the son of a man who dedicated his life to his country, family and the military, and I am a better person for it.

"In the summer of 1864, Abraham Lincoln, the man on whose memorial we stand, spoke to the 164th Ohio Regiment and said: 'I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country.' Just as they have stood tall for our country -- we must always stand by and support the men and women in uniform and their families."

Woods won't be launching a political career anytime soon. But Sunday was a start. Another athlete of similar magnitude, LeBron James, campaigned for Obama in Ohio and has talked to him on the phone several times.

The best news? Obama is ready to woo Tony Dungy into the fold. Few coaches are ready to serve a president like Dungy, who proved you can succeed in the NFL by treating people with class and respect and not acting like a cantankerous loon. He persevered through a horrific tragedy -- the 2005 suicide of his teenage son, James -- and he remained humble and unchanged after finally winning his first Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts the following year. He retired last week, his Hall of Fame legacy intact as a dignified leader of men and the first black coach to win a Super Bowl.

"I have a real peace about it that this is the right time," Dungy said at his farewell ceremony. "I really don't know what I'm going to do from here. I want to do something that will allow me to spend more time with my family and allow me to connect with young people and make our country better."

Heeding the hint was Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who thinks Dungy should be an official role model for responsible fatherhood. Obama agreed. According to Bayh, Obama said, "I love that guy." Why not borrow great leaders from football?

In good times and bad, sports always has served as escapism in America. Under Barack Obama, sports will be a little bigger than that.

You'll have to explain how that possibly can be a bad thing.