Royce Webb wrote a few years back, “On April 29, 1979, Carter traveled via Marine One—the presidential helicopter—and his motorcade to the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between his hometown teams: Atlanta and Washington.”
Atlanta broadcaster Skip Caray interviewed Carter at courtside during the warm-ups. He was a guest of Bullets owner Abe Pollin. As the first sitting president to attend an NBA game, the event was treated as historic and positive.
The Bullets downed the Hawks 100-94 and Washington advanced.
In its next-day report, the Washington Post lightheartedly noted, “If this keeps up, President Carter may become Washington’s good luck charm in a Big Game.”
On February 21, 1997, Clinton attended a Chicago Bulls-Bullets game. Michael Jordan scored 36 points and everyone had a jolly good time. Clinton sat midcourt (about 10 rows up), visited both locker rooms, munched popcorn, and stayed until the end.
12 years later, on February 27, 2009, Obama became the third president to attend an NBA game—the Washington Wizards vs. Chicago Bulls. The team dropped the name Bullets because Washington’s murder rate was so high. Thanks to Trump, they can go back to being the Bullets. Shoot basketballs, not guns.
Widely circulated images showed Obama courtside with big smiles, high-fives, and cheering—featured in Time, Getty, Reuters, and more as a positive guys’ night out moment.
Which brings me last night’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knickerbockers and the the Spurs of San Antonio. I would have named them the Strolls, but no one asked me.
Trump, a long time Knicks fan, attended. How dare he, right?
Communist House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked, “Why does he have to ruin a good thing?”
Kathy Hochul, the Karen Governor of Trump’s birth state, said, “I’d ask him to name the starting lineup of the 1993 championship team and see how he does.”
The Bulls won the 1993 NBA championship. I don’t see why you would have to name Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen to get into a game at Madison Square Garden, but maybe she meant the 1973 Knicks who was the last Knicks team to win the NBA championship.
Knicks fans should know that, right?
I expect Democrats to be dumb and wrong. That is their default setting. But sports sections in newspapers and ESPN used the occasion to signal their virtue.
President Donald Trump has openly trashed the NBA as a bastion of player activism with overt liberal politics that could “destroy” the game of basketball. And he’s deeply unpopular in New York City, with a historically low job approval rating.
So why is he planning to attend Monday’s Game 3 finals matchup between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, the first in Madison Square Garden in 27 years?
To steal a phrase from former President Bill Clinton, “It’s the politics, stupid.”
The writer is the paper’s domestic security correspondent. His take was odd. He said Trump went to the game to widen his name recognition.
And while Trump is much more aligned with the pro-MAGA Ultimate Fighting Championship crowd, he’s likely going because it presents him with yet another opportunity to build his brand and be seen by more than 10 million people watching at home, presidential historian Matt Dallek told USA TODAY on June 5.
“He loves attention. He loves eyeballs on him and being at the center of everything,” Dallek said. “And even though he decamped and moved to Florida, he still identifies in many ways as a New Yorker.”
“The Knicks being in the finals for the first time in many decades is a chance for him to kill two birds with one stone,” Dallek said. “He can generate some controversy. He can put all eyes on him, and he can bask in the reflective glory of the New York Knicks, even if he’s getting booed or heckled.”
There would be no UFC without Donald Trump. No one else would give Dana White a venue to stage the games. Enter The Donald and his casino in Atlantic City. White’s loyalty decades later is a joy to behold.
Maybe—just maybe—Trump likes NBA basketball. His criticism of the league’s management may stem from wanting to protect the NBA from its hierarchy.
He has owned a football team, sponsored Mike Tyson when he was an unknown, and encouraged and sponsored an assistant pro at one of his golf courses to try the PGA again. The guy did and won the Houston Open.
So we have this pecker-headed writer at USA Today dumping on the president—something the writer would never do to Obama. Or Clinton. Or even Carter.
Well, life’s not fair.
Bryant—making his first appearance as an all-star—entered the elevator and Williams felt Bryant did not show enough respect for his elders. The two men had words. Finally, Williams lunged at Bryant and punched him. Trump stepped in between them and told Bryant to get out of the elevator. He did.
In 1975, before Trump became successful in New York real estate, he appraised Madison Square Garden for its owner during discussions with Arab investors who wanted to buy it. The deal never went through but this was the earliest mention of The Donald in the New York Times.
As for last night’s game, one team scored more points than the other.
The big winner was America. Eric Daugherty tweeted with video, “WOW! Madison Square Garden ERUPTS in USA! USA! USA! chants with President Trump in attendance.
“The arena is still FILLED WITH PATRIOTS even though leftists booed him.”
Nice to hear USA! USA! USA! replace FJB.
I am sure the crowds cheered Carter, Clinton and Obama as well. This shouldn’t be news but the fact that it is shows how far sports journalists have fallen.
This article first appeared on Don Surber’s Substack. Reprinted here with permission.
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