The President and Sports

Bill Simmons has been on my list of internet personalities that I love for about 13 years now, since back in the day when he really did only write about Boston sports.  His baffling knowledge of, and appreciation for, all things Boston, sports and early nineties Fox prime-time dramas really defines a lot of what I care about.  But his postcast with President Obama just takes it to a whole news level.  Particularly with a Republican field of I-hate-poor-people, I-hate-women, and I-hate-poor-people-women-gays-and-minorities, it's easy to love the Commander In Chief, but he just keeps making it easier.  Full podcast available here.  Transcript available here.

"Well, it’s funny, the mythology of sports is just — it's deeply embedded in us. I remember I visited Iraq as a senator, and I think at that point I had already started running for president, but I can’t remember. Anyway, they invited me to go into this gym, and there were like 3,000 of our troops there. And somebody just handed me a ball and said, "Come on, Mr. President, take a shot." And I said, OK, and I shot it and swished it from the 3-point line. And the amount of excitement that those folks had was surprising to me.

But I think it just sort of reminded me of the kind of bond that sports creates in people. People — for all our differences politically, regionally, economically — most folks understand sports. Probably because it’s one of the few places where it’s a true meritocracy. There’s not a lot of BS. Ultimately, who’s winning, who’s losing, who’s performing, who’s not — it’s all laid out there."

xo kate