Over the weekend, there was some great College Basketball games, but all the focus was on Duke and Georgetown because Barry Obama was in the house. For most of the game, Obama looked on courtside, but in the second half he decided to stop by the booth and chat with Verne Lundquist and Clark Kellogg....

Not a bad job really. They didn't make him do a whole lot of play by play, but I really enjoyed the "go to the right" joke.

Barack Obama Does Play By Play (Buster Sports)

I spent most of the night not paying attention to the All Star Game, but I made sure to record/watch Barack Obama's appearance in the booth, with Buck and McCarver. I honestly thought that the two Fox announcers would find a way to ruin it, but they and the Pres, actually made it enjoyable. The talk was loose and light, and focused on the game of Baseball, which is a welcome change from all the Politics that have crept into Sports as of late. Here's the appearance if you missed it....

Good stuff....now about that first pitch. Albert Pujols swears it didn't touch the ground, and there's talk of a Fox camera conspiracy, but I'm pretty sure he bounced it up there. The thing that everyone has to remember though, is that he threw it from the mound, which most people don't do. To throw it down the middle, and barely bounce it, is actually not THAT bad. In fact, I almost guarantee that half of the Nationals would have swung at that sinker.

As everyone knows by now, President Obama will be on hand to throw out the first pitch at the All Star Game tonight, and eventually make his way up to the Fox booth. USA Today talked with Joe Buck about what he plans to talk about, and here was the play-by-players response....

Joe Buck hopes the bottom of the second inning of Tuesday night's MLB All-Star Game drags on. That's when President Obama is expected to drop by the Fox TV booth for a half-inning cameo with Buck and analyst Tim McCarver.

And if the three outs happen fast? "Maybe he'd stick around for more," says Buck. "But I don't know if I'd put him on the spot without clearing it."

Buck says "the last thing I'd ever do" is go into politics between calling balls and strikes. Instead, Buck might ask the First Fan — in banter he hopes will be "light and fun" and "respectful" — who he rooted for while growing up in Hawaii, or ask for his favorite sports memories.

Buck last month debuted his HBO show, and comedian Artie Lange got out of control and essentially hijacked the program. Buck chuckled when asked if he's afraid of the president asserting such unchecked power: "I'm confident that won't happen."

Whew! I was worried about that for a second there. Personally, I'm more worried about our President pulling a "Mayor of Cincinnati", and bouncing his opening pitch on the way to the plate. Hopefully they'll let him have a few warmup throws beforehand.

Fox All-Star Game booth readies for visit from South Sider Obama (USA Today)

So I figured everyone would be interested in all of Barack Obama's picks on Sports Center, and that I'd put up the video. We already knew his Final Four, but in the Final he likes UNC over Louisville for the Championship....

Not a Selection Show in the sense of picking the teams in the Tournament (obviously), but Barack Obama will breakdown every pick of his bracket on Sports Center today at Noon. Via ESPN....

The President's Final Four: Louisville, North Carolina, Memphis, Pitt

The President’s bracket fulfilled a campaign promise made to Katz during an October 19, 2008 interview, for a story about Craig Robinson, Oregon State head basketball coach and brother-in-law to the President.

Said Katz, “President Obama made his picks as a sports fan, not as a politician. He was knowledgeable about the teams, and was even up to date on the latest injuries involving the contenders. He was confident with his picks and delivered an on-camera pep talk for the team he picked to win it all. It was clear that he enjoyed filling out his bracket like the rest of America.”

If you look at that photo above, it looks like the Prez is going chalk this year. But then again, so isn't the majority of the world, including myself. I just don't think any of the lower seeds have a shot this year, but of course that will be wrong come April, and we'll have four 6-seeds in the semis.

You'd think that ESPN has had enough interviews with President Obama at this point, but apparently that's not the case. This time they're sending their resident Basketball "expert" Dick Vitale to chat with Barack about the Sport within the DC area, and Vitale will also be bestowing a nickname upon the leader of the Free World. That nickname?

The "Commander-in-Swish". Seriously....

College basketball ambassador Dick Vitale is aware President Barack Obama is a basketball fan, having said, “We’re getting rid of the bowling alley and replacing it with a basketball court in the White House." During tomorrow’s (Thursday, Feb. 25) 6 p.m. SportsCenter, Vitale tries to sell Obama, whom he calls, “Commander-in-Swish,” on the college game in the Washington, D.C., area. The piece will also run on Saturday’s 10 a.m. SportsCenter prior to College GameDay.

“So many conferences in and around the District, I don't know where too get started,” Vitale says. “ACC, Big East, CAA, A-10, Patriot League, America East, the MEAC, oh my, there are over a dozen college teams within a short ride from the White House.”

Ugh. I'll always respect Vitale for what he's done for the game, but this couldn't be more annoying. I know you probably want to skip it, but I'll probably be grabbing it for the site either tomorrow night or early Friday. Hopefully it will be interesting, or at least goofy enough to make fun of.

Update: ESPN just informed me that it's not actually an interview, and Obama won't be featured in the piece. It's just a spot on DC Basketball, which isn't nearly annoying as first thought.

I've already mentioned that ESPN is airing live coverage of Barack Obama being sworn in as President, but they're not the only ones in the Sports Industry who are shifting their attention to DC today. MLB.com is giving you the option of watching the ceremony online for free today if you're stuck at work without a television. Even cooler than that though is the fact that they are also airing former Inaugurations leading up to our 44th President's time at the Capital. Via Sports Business Daily....

MLB.com today will stream President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration live at 11:30am ET, part of extensive coverage planned for the event. The inauguration will be preceded on MLB.com by video replays of those for Presidents John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton beginning at 9:00am ET and a live special with Vinny Micucci and Hal Bodley at 11:00am.

Jimmy Carter's is airing now, so if you're going to check it out, you might want to wait about 10 minutes or so until he has finished up. I kid, I kid. Just a great idea, and with all of the coverage going on, you don't really know what and where to finally settle on to watch it all.

Oh and if you're interested in ESPN's coverage, they go live at 11:30, and will have ABC's feed going while Jeremy Schapp lurks around the Nation's Capital with live reports and thoughts from various athletes.

Inauguration Elicits Special Media Coverage From ESPN, MLB.com (Sports Business Daily - $)

In one of the oddest scheduling moves of all time, The Michael Irvin Show will be bringing on Troy Aikman, right as Obama takes the stage in DC today. And by right as Obama takes the stage, I mean "RIGHT as Obama takes the stage". Via Barry Horn at the DMN....

ESPN-FM 103.3 is ballyhooing Troy Aikman's Tuesday appearance on the MIchael Irvin Show from noon to 1 p.m. at a North Dallas restaurant. But will anyone notice? There will be a historical event in Washington going on called the presidential inauguration.

Nobody knows that better than Irvin, who had this to say in the wake of Obama's election victory:

"What a historical moment that was last night. ... From an African-American standpoint, I watched my people -- watched my people -- celebrate the not guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson. They were so hungry for a victory of some kind that they celebrated -- we celebrated -- the verdict of O.J. And I was thinking to myself, 'Two people are dead. Two people are dead.' Now, I'm not talking about my people, I'm explaining them here. They were just so hungry to say 'We have a victory.' And I cringe when I even think about that.

If you're a radio program, and you're NOT airing the speech live, you're making a pretty big mistake. Speaking of radio, it looks like I'm going to be on Mad Dog Radio's, "The B-Team" with Bill Pidto and Bruce Murray, immediately following their coverage of the Inauguration. More details on that later today!

Irvin-Aikman vs. Obama-Biden (Dallas Morning News)

I guess the wrong word to use is hype, but ESPN is using the "excitement" surrounding Barack Obama's Inauguration, and airing something that they are calling "Breaking Barriers". Not only that, but they also plan on airing Obama's swearing in as President, live on Sports Center. Via ESPN....

ESPN will commemorate and cover Barack Obama’s inauguration Tuesday, January 20, with a 10-hour marathon, Breaking Barriers, starting at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN Classic that will feature ground-breaking African-American athletes such as Arthur Ashe, Jack Johnson and Eddie Robinson. ESPN Classic will also present seven hours of Breaking Barriers on Monday, January 19, Martin Luther King Day, with programs devoted to Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and other ground-breaking black athletes.

In addition, SportsCenter will present live coverage of President-elect Obama’s swearing-in ceremony starting at 11:30 a.m. with Jeremy Schaap reporting from the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. Schaap will also provide reaction from athletes in attendance.

ESPN’s inauguration coverage will include “Realizing The Dream” vignettes on Tuesday, January 20, in which sports figures talk about what Barack Obama and his election means to them. The vignettes will air within ESPN studio programming – including SportsCenter – and across platforms (ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile Properties, etc.). Sports figures participating in the vignettes include Magic Johnson, Tom Jackson, Paul Pierce and Craig Robinson, the Oregon State head basketball coach and brother-in-law of Obama.

The ESPN Classic stuff seems like a good enough idea, but I really don't see what the point in airing the ceremony is. It's definitely a momentous occasion, but not one that needs to be covered by the "Worldwide Leader in Sports". Here's the schedule of shows in case you want to check them out....

Breaking Barriers Schedule on ESPN Classic, Tuesday, Jan. 20

1975 Wimbledon Finals: Arthur Ashe vs. Jimmy Connors (1-3pm)
Jack Johnson documentary (3-4pm)
SportsCentury: Bill Russell (4-5pm)
National Championship: Texas Western vs. Kentucky (5-6pm)
Third and a Mile: History of the Black Quarterback (6-7pm)
Eddie Robinson's 400th Victory (7-9:30pm)
SportsCentury: Ernie Davis (9:30-10:30pm)
10:30-11 p.m. SportsCentury: Willie Jeffries

Barack Obama was on 60 Minutes last night to talk about among other things being named President, the Economy and the War, but it was the last question from Steve Kroft that seemed to perk his attention the most. That of course was how the newest President plans on getting College Football to switch to a Playoff system....

I only have one thing to say to that video and that is....YES WE CAN!

There something about Obama that brings out great things in people. A while back it was an eloquent speech from Emmitt Smith, and now Michael Irvin is the one putting things into perspective. The former ESPN analyst was on Mike and Mike this morning and he had the following to say about last night. Via Fanhouse....

"What a historical moment that was last night. ... From an African-American standpoint, I watched my people -- watched my people -- celebrate the not guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson. They were so hungry for a victory of some kind that they celebrated -- we celebrated -- the verdict of O.J. And I was thinking to myself, 'Two people are dead. Two people are dead' Now, I'm not talking about my people, I'm explaining them here. They were just so hungry to say 'We have a victory.' And I cringe when I even think about that.

"But last night I watched a celebration. A real celebration. A real celebration, and it was a celebration for everybody, and everybody celebrated, and they kept showing this shot, and I was watching, of this little black girl and this little white girl, just sitting there crying together, and I thought, wow. I thought about Martin Luther King and his 'I Have a Dream' speech, and I thought about him saying, black kids and white kids playing together. ...

"Last night we removed all differences and became just one, and I thought that was a beautiful thing. It was just a beautiful thing. I stood here with my kids, we watched it and we cried and we prayed."

Well how about that? I don't care what your political background is, but that was just beautifully put. You can only hope that this pride and overall good feeling continues.

Just for the heck of it....let's go back and watch that Emmitt speech again....



Michael Irvin's Eloquent Expression of Pride in Election of Barack Obama (Fanhouse)

Here are your completely uneventful and awfully boring Berman interviews with both Obama and McCain from last night. Nothing crazy happened, as expected, but keep your eyes and ears opened for a Barack Obama endorsement of a playoff system in College Football and McCain's, Chris Berman impression....

Yaaaaaay! Boring....now get out there and vote you crazy kids! New Hampshire....YOU'RE ON THE CLOCK!!!

After all of their appearances on the network over the past few months, you just knew that ESPN was going to have the two candidates on right before the election. That last time will be on Monday Night Football and of course the game on election eve is in DC. Not only that, but you'll never guess who they've tabbed to interview them. That's right! Christopher J. Berman....

On the eve of the presidential election, ESPN’s Monday Night Football game November 3 will originate from the nation’s capital when the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Washington Redskins. Before the polls open the next day, ESPN’s audience will hear from the candidates when Chris Berman interviews both major party presidential nominees, Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama, during halftime of the MNF game.

The candidates will be on the campaign trail and have agreed to participate one-on-one, pending last-minute schedule changes, via satellite with Berman from the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn. The conversations will be taped earlier in the day and will air at approximately 10:15 p.m. ET. The Steelers-Redskins game will kickoff at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN HD with the Spanish-language telecast on ESPN Deportes.

I guess in the end these are the only interviews that actually make perfect sense for everyone involved. Especially when you consider the magnitude of the game itself. Not only is the Skins-Steelers game an important one for both teams, but it will also be important for the candidates. You see the last Redskins home game before the election is a predictor of which party will make it into office on Election Tuesday. When the Redskins win, the party who last won the popular vote wins the presidency, and when the Redskins lose, the other party gets the nod. In fact this theory has hold true a perfect 100% (17 of 17) since people first came across it.

That means if the Skins win, it's John McCain. And if the Steelers win, it's Obama. Choose who you root for wisely!

Here is your first look at FOX's World Series intro, and when I first read that John McCain and Barack Obama were going to be involved, I rolled my eyes. After watching the clip though, I have to say that it's pretty darn good. Here's your first look....

Man, that gave me some goosebumps. Anytime you use music from the movie "Glory", and add some inspirational quotes, you've got a winner. I'll be around later tonight with an open thread, and hopefully some vids later on in the night. Enjoy Game One folks!

Didn't think I'd be going with back-to-back annoying commercials department, but you can add Barack Obama's name to the growing list. Obama has officially decided to use a 30-minute....not seconds, minutes!....spot before the start of the potential Game Six of the World Series. Of course you could just skip it, but according to CNN....it's actually pushing back the start of the game....

The Republican National Committee took aim at Barack Obama Wednesday over the Illinois senator's half-hour ad buy that will delay the start of a World Series game by 18 minutes.

"It’s unfortunate that the World Series’ first pitch is being delayed for Obama’s political pitch," RNC spokesman Alex Conant said. "Not only is Obama putting politics before principle, he’s putting it before our national pastime.”

Major League Baseball has agreed to a request from Fox to delay the start time of Game 6 of the World Series (if a Game 6 is necessary) so the network can air the 30-minute Obama spot, a Fox spokesman confirms to CNN. The Illinois senator has also bought similar time on CBS and NBC, set to begin at 8 p.m.

The potential Game Six would be on October 29th, and it's seemingly a smart move as far as timing of the election goes, it's just another instance of Politics creeping into Sport. I know we've had this discussion many times in the past few months, but I just really can't stand when they mix.

The last thing I want before a potential World Series clinching game is a 30-minute delay.

Obama takes heat for delaying World Series game (CNN)

(Thanks to SL for the tip)

Okay, this Politics thing with ESPN has gotten just a little too weird at this point. In August, Barack Obama sat down for an interview and the network's PR Department stated that it was trying to get a hold of John McCain for a sit down of his own. They followed that up with an interview at the beginning of this week with the Republican candidate and everything seemed to be over and done with in regards to Politics and the "Leader".

Well yesterday, MDS at Fanhouse put up an interesting post in regards to a potential ESPN "Pro-Obama" stance and how multiple employees have made contributions to the Democratic nominee....

A database search of donations to the campaigns of Obama and John McCain reveals that at least six ESPN editorial employees -- Desmond Howard, Scoop Jackson, Kelly Naqi, John Saunders, Bill Walton and Stephen A. Smith -- have given to Obama's campaign. No ESPN editorial employees are listed as donors to McCain's campaign in the records at OpenSecrets.org.

I asked ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz what ESPN's policy is on political donations, and he told me:

"For ESPN in general, decisions on political donations are made by employees entirely on their own. For specifically folks with editorial roles, we discourage public participation in matters of political advocacy or controversy."

While the post was an interesting thought, I really don't think that someone exercising their constitutional right to support and vote for whomever they please is an issue. I think that point was made in the quote from Josh Krulewitz, but an interesting thing happened today potentially in response to the situation above .

Without any press releases on the matter, and without warning, John McCain showed up via telephone for an interview on Mike and Mike in the morning. With the way that ESPN promoted both Sports Center interview this was a very odd, but it got even weirder as Greenberg and Golic were hyping the Senator's appearance before he came on. Every time they brought up McCain they made a specific point of saying that they were not being biased and Greenberg even said, "And yes democrats, we are working to bring Barack Obama on the show hopefully as soon as next week," at one point. That's an odd choice of words if you ask me and the way Greenie it put it made it seem almost defensive in nature.

You can hear that and see the interview in the video below, but this whole confusion, skepticism and random appearances are the reason they should have never gone done this road in the first place. Whether they were trying for an angle or not, alliances and conspiracy theories are always going to come into play when Politics are involved. I think the lesson learned is to just keep Sports and the White House separate from here on out....

Update: According to ESPN it was an item in a Mid Week update that ESPN emails out each Wednesday. Not exactly the same as the first go around though and it was a bit buried in that release, after a bunch of NFL items.

Does ESPN Have a Pro-Obama Bias? (Fanhouse)
Video: John McCain's Interview On ESPN (Awful Announcing)
Video: Obama's Sit-Down With Stuart Scott (Awful Announcing)

Back near the end of August, Stu Scott played a little one-on-one with Barack Obama, and after that you knew it was just a matter of time before John McCain got his turn on the network. According to MDS at Fanhouse, Bob Ley sat down with the Republican Presidential candidate and the interview will more than likely air sometime this week....

ESPN's Bob Ley interviewed Republican presidential candidate John McCain today at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, as the Worldwide Leader attempts to give equal time to both candidates after Stuart Scott interviewed Barack Obama last month.

The problem, though, is that Scott gave Obama a puff piece, complete with a game of one-on-one that ended with a hug. Somehow I can't see Ley and McCain hugging it out at the NASCAR track.

ESPN tells me they don't know yet when the interview will air, but I'm betting that when it does air, we'll see that Ley asked tough questions, because he's a good journalist. And I'm sure the McCain campaign will use Ley asking McCain tough questions and Scott asking Obama softball questions to bolster their claims that the media is biased against Republicans, because that's been one of the key McCain talking points in the last couple of weeks.

It is really odd that ESPN decided to use a different interviewer for each candidate when you think about it. If Ley does grill McCain it will obviously come across like ESPN set it up that way (whether they did or didn't), and about six months back that's the reason they originally said they weren't even going to bother with interviews. I'm not sure what changed their mind but one thing is for sure. They really should have thought this out a heck of a lot more.

On a side note, I'm also wondering who picked the locations. If it was McCain's choice, picking a NASCAR race is a pretty transparent move. We couldn't have just conducted both in Bristol? Guess not.

ESPN's Bob Ley Interviews John McCain, How Will It Compare to Scott-Obama Puff Piece? (Fanhouse)
Video: Obama's Sit-Down With Stuart Scott (Awful Announcing)