Report: President Barack Obama to attend Bulls-Cavaliers NBA season opener
When the Chicago Bulls welcome the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers to United Center on Tuesday night to tip off the 2015-16 NBA season, they also expect to be welcoming a pretty notable fan to the stands, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com:
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President Barack Obama, perhaps the most famous Chicago Bulls fan in the world, is expected to be in attendance for the Chicago’s season-opening game Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“He loves the game of basketball,” LeBron James said prior to the Cavs’ shootaround Tuesday morning. “We all know that. It’s an honor for me to be a part of a venue and a spectacle that the president would like to come and watch. It’s an honor for sure.”
Yes, LeBron, but the president also loves the Bulls. The former University of Chicago Law School professor, Illinois state senator and U.S. Senator from Illinois cheered on the Bulls during a 2009 visit to D.C. to take on the Washington Wizards, and even talked some trash with a Wizards fan. (Years later, he’d step it up to talking trash with Wizards players.)
The pickup-loving POTUS has run with multiple generations of Bulls stars, received a birthday gift from Bulls legend Michael Jordan, publicly welcomed Derrick Rose back from injury, and expressed displeasure at the dismissal of head coach Tom Thibodeau this summer. His ball- and Bulls-loving bona fides have long since been established.
(Despite Obama’s stated love of Thibs, new Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg sounded a positive note on the prospect of the president’s attendance, according to Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune: “That’ll be cool. It’ll be great for our guys to see the president in the building.”)
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And since he’s in town anyway to speak at the annual conference for the International Association of Chiefs of Police — where he was expected to argue that “stricter gun control would reduce the number of police officers shot down on U.S. streets,” according to Reuters; four-time MVP James, too, recently called for increased gun control measures — hey, why not take in the game? What good’s being president if you can’t get tickets to a Bulls game whenever you want?
From CSNChicago.com’s Vincent Goodwill:
It’s not James’ first time playing in front of the President, a huge NBA fan in general, but it’s the first time President Obama will see James play in Chicago. It hasn’t been revealed where President Obama will be sitting but while in Washington D.C., he usually has sat courtside as opposed to a suite.
“I played in front of him in DC, on the Olympic team we played Brazil here in America (in 2012) and he was able to grace that game,” James said. “He came into the locker room and things of that nature. It’s great to represent the country and play the game that I love.”
Cavaliers coach David Blatt said he can’t remember if he’s coached in front of President Obama before but considering he coached in Israel for a number of years, he felt it necessary to say this isn’t the first time he’s been in front of heads of state before.
“I’ve been in front of presidents in other parts of the world,” said Blatt, while acknowledging how ‘cool’ it is. “But of the United States, yes.”
(Glad we’ve established that you’ve wined and dined with kings and queens, Coach. Now tell me about the pork and beans.)
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If in fact Obama does wind up making it over to 1800 West Madison for the contest, he ought to be treated to a pretty fun show.
After sitting out the last couple of weeks of preseason with back pain, LeBron says he’s ready to go. After having surgery to repair a fractured orbital bone last month, Rose says he is, too. The Cavs will set sail on a season that many expect will end with the first NBA championship in franchise history. The Bulls will begin their first season under Hoiberg’s stewardship, hoping that a change at the top is what Chicago needed to finally burst past LeBron and into the Finals.
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And, if LeBron’s any indication, the players just might feel compelled to give a little bit extra knowing that the leader of the free world’s in the stands. More from McMenamin:
“I believe our league is the greatest league that we have in the world. We have the greatest athletes and greatest fans and so on and so on,” James said. “So [for] the president of the United States to grace us on opening night in Chicago, I’m just honored. Something I can tell my kids a long, long time from now. I’ll actually be able to have the film showing them — kids don’t believe me sometimes — I’ll be able to show them the film that the president of the United States was at a ballgame I played in. That’s pretty cool.”
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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