President Obama spent part of the day Tuesday playing basketball, an election-day tradition, with staff and friends, including former bodyman Reggie Love, Obama’s brother-in-law Craig Robinson, and former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen.
Even as his opponent added Tuesday events, Obama stuck to his athletic tradition. “It’s out of my hands now, it’s in yours,” Obama said yesterday at a rally in Iowa. “All of it depends on what you do.”
Alex Giannoulias, the former Illinois state treasurer and 2010 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, was on Obama’s team and gave the Associated Press’ Julie Pace a partial account of the game.
The two five-player teams played four 12-minute quarters. Referees were brought in to call fouls. The president’s team won by “like 20,” with a score of “like 102, 105, 108 or so to 80-something.”
Obama was player-coach of his team, which included Pippen. On the other team were Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Obama’s friend Marty Nesbitt, and Pippen’s former Bulls teammate Randy Brown.
“It was a lot of fun,” Giannoulias said. “We won. I scored more points than Scottie Pippen, which was my dream come true.”
Giannoulias said Obama “played very well” but did not say how many points he scored.
Sam Go