I've just watched the terrific "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" segment with Barack Obama talking about his love of basketball. And all I can say is: What the heck was ESPN thinking?
Yesterday it was reported that the Worldwide Leader in Spoilsports had nixed a podcast between ESPN.com's popular columnist Bill Simmons and the all-but-nominated Democratic presidential candidate.
If you're like me, you've about had it with the Issues that Matter to Pennsylvanians, and would welcome a nice, unspinnable, offbeat story about the candidates. And I'm guessing Bill Simmons felt the same. But no, apparently Mark Penn advises ESPN, because suddenly the Obama interview was cancelled.
What do you talk about with a guy whose team won the Hawaii state basketball championship? You talk hoops. But "Real Sports," which aired Tuesday, went further. It taped Obama in a pickup game (this was before the infamous bowling incident), which Gumbel later analyzed (OK, in kind of a clunky way -- Obama drives left because that's his good first step, not because his liberal politics inexorably push him to that side of the basket). Besides Obama, Gumbel interviewed his high school coach and Michelle's brother Craig Robinson, an ex-Princeton player who was told by his sister to have a game with her boyfriend. It was, unbeknownst to "Barry O'Bomber," a sort of relationship test, bringing new meaning to the word courtship.
I'm glad that Bryant Gumbel has discovered play-by-play announcing is not his gift. If it was his dream to call some games, well, he's fulfilled it. Now he's back doing what he does best. And thanks to the nervous nellies who run ESPN, he's got an exclusive. Here's a clip.
