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Category: Sports
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Obama team ready for full-court press
As the new presidential administration is becoming increasingly loaded with good basketball players, Barack Obama has stressed that hardcourt skills are not a requirement for service.
“I did not pick Arne because he’s one of the best basketball players I know,” Obama said Tuesday in announcing the selection of Arne Duncan as the new secretary of education.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
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(requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.That denial out of the way, Obama, who played on a Hawaiian state championship team in high school, went on to say that “we are putting together the best basketball-playing cabinet in American history.”
As Mark Memmott notes in USA Today, it is fair to say that the Obama and his appointees got game. (Full disclosure: Memmott is this writer’s brother.)
Obama was a reserve on the Punahou High School team that won a state championship in Hawaii in 1979. He didn’t play in college, but he continues to take part in pick-up games.
A You Tube video from April shows then-candidate Obama in a three-on-three game at an Indiana high school.
A left-handed point guard, the 6-foot-2 Obama makes several good moves to the basket, all of which are enthusiastically celebrated by announcer Herbie Ziskend of the Obama staff. No ball hog, Obama also gets off some good passes.
Obama’s talents aside, Duncan, currently the CEO of the Chicago public schools, might be the star of the cabinet team.
A co-captain of the 1986-1987 Harvard basketball team, the 6-foot-5 Duncan went on to play two seasons for the Eastside Spectres in Australia’s National Basketball League, averaging 26 points per game, according to league records.
The rest of Obama’s starting five could include:
- James L. Jones Jr., a retired Marine General, chosen to be national security adviser. He played forward for Georgetown University, graduating in 1966.
- Susan Rice, a former point guard at National Cathedral School in Washington who is slated to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
- Eric H. Holder Jr., the nominee for attorney general, who co-captained a losing team at academically prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City in the late 1960s.
Should any of these players tire, Obama could bring in Reggie Love, his 6-foot-5 personal aide. Love played football at Duke University and was a reserve on the 2001 NCAA championship basketball team.
Love offered this analysis of his boss’ game to The New York Times: “He’s quick and he’s strong. A lot of people still don’t know that he’s left-handed, so he can get to the basket and get his shot off, even though he’s not the most explosive or tallest player on the court.”
Timothy Geithner, the pick for Treasury secretary, also might have a spot with the Obama five, as he’s said to be a pick-up game regular.
Reaching beyond his appointees and staff, Obama could suit up fundraiser John W. Rogers Jr., the 1979-80 Princeton co-captain and head of Ariel Capital Management.
Martin Nesbitt, another fundraiser, is also a regular in Obama’s pick-up games.
Obama’s court closer could be Craig Robinson, his brother-in-law. The coach of the Oregon State University men’s basketball team, Robinson starred in basketball at Princeton University.
Michelle Robinson Obama noted at the Democratic Convention this summer, that when Barack Obama was wooing her, Craig Robinson vetted the young lawyer on the basketball court.
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This post is tagged with: Arne Duncan, Barack Obama, basketball, Craig Robinson, James L. Jones Jr., SportsRead related stories: Recent Stories · Sports
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Schapiro likely to be questioned about Madoff tiesDecember 19, 2008 at 11:30am
Mary L. Schapiro, Barack Obama’s pick to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, is being described as the right person to help restore the commission’s battered reputation.
“If there is anybody who is going to reinvigorate the SEC, it is Mary,” David M. Becker, the commission’s former general counsel, told The Washington Post. “I have no doubt that with her leading the SEC, it will show its teeth whenever necessary.”
Kansas Jayhawks have big
Advice to anyone who wants to become a successful (and rich) men’s college basketball coach: Connect to Kansas.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.Three of the four teams remaining in this year’s NCAA Division I basketball tournament have coaches with some link to the University of Kansas.
And their Kansas influences can be stretched back rather easily to the invention of basketball itself.
But for starters, here are the current Kansas connections:
The first is obvious, as Kansas is one the four teams left.
It’s coached by Bill Self who took over the team in 2003, replacing Roy Williams, who had coached at Kansas for 15 seasons.
Williams left Kansas for the University of North Carolina, which is also one of the Final Four teams.
So while Self and Williams have the strongest links to Kansas, John Calipari, the coach of the University of Memphis, another one of the four teams, also has a tie to the school in Lawrence, Kansas. He was an assistant coach there from 1982 to 1985.
Coincidentally, when Calipari left in 1985 to go to the University of Pittsburgh as an assistant coach, his assistant’s position at Kansas was taken over by Self.
The fourth Final Four coach, Ben Howland of UCLA, doesn’t have a Kansas line on his resume.
However, he was at Pittsburgh after Calipari left, serving as the head coach from 1999 to 2003 before he departed for UCLA.
The Kansas connection can be traced in another way, by looking at the career and influence of Dean Smith, the North Carolina coach from 1961 to 1997.
Born in Kansas, Smith played for the University of Kansas in the early 1950s.
His coach was Phog Allen, who in turn, had been coached at Kansas by James Naismith, the inventor of basketball in 1891.
Consequently, anyone who played for Smith or coached with him can claim to be only two steps removed from basketball’s origins.
Williams can cite a double influence in this regard as he played junior varsity basketball at North Carolina during the time Smith was coaching there.
He also was an assistant coach for Smith from 1978 to 1988 before he went to Kansas.
There’s another connector, as well – Larry Brown, the much-traveled college and professional basketball coach.
Brown played for Smith at North Carolina and was briefly an assistant coach for him, as well.
Brown was later the head coach at Kansas from 1983 to 1988. Both Self and Calipari served as his assistants.
Calipari was also an assistant under Brown during the 1999-2000 season when Brown coached the professional Philadelphia 76ers.
And though they didn’t overlap, Brown and Howland have this in common: They’ve both coached UCLA.
Related posts on the Muckety Maps in the news blog- Torre should have looked over the fence – November 3, 2007
- Knoblauch talks to Congress – February 3, 2008
- Jane Mendillo taking charge of Harvard endowment – March 29, 2008
- Andre Agassi Foundation names Miller CEO – January 16, 2008
- Cablevision’s James Dolan has string of losses – October 26, 2007
- Agassi & Graf: A new business empire – November 24, 2007
- Out of the park and into politics – October 13, 2007
- Lies led Marion Jones to prison – January 14, 2008
- Roger Clemens sues former trainer – January 7, 2008
- Candidates and baseball owners cover political bases – October 10, 2007
This post is tagged with: basketball, Ben Howland, Bill Self, Colleges, Dean Smith, Final Four, James Naismith, Jayhawks, John Calipari, NCAA, Phog Allen, Sports, UCLA, University of Kansas, University of Memphis, University of North CarolinaRead related stories: Colleges · Sports
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Theatrical Rusty Hardin takes Clemens’s case
Baseball’s Roger Clemens has never been one to back down and go easy on batters.
So it’s no surprise that he has launched a very public campaign to clear his name of allegations leveled against him in the Mitchell report on the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
And it’s also not surprising that Rusty Hardin, a Houston-based criminal defense lawyer, is representing Clemens. (Story continues below interactive map.)
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“(Hardin) remains the name that should be on the speed-dial of every athlete or deep-pocketed Houstonian who might ever conceivably get into trouble,” wrote the Houston Press in naming Hardin Houston’s best criminal defense lawyer of 2005.The honor didn’t come easily, as Houston has long had a reputation for effective and flamboyant criminal defense lawyers.
However, selecting Hardin was a no-brainer, the Press wrote, “like naming Lance Armstrong as Best Bicyclist from Texas.”
Hardin, 66, a Vietnam War veteran, and a graduate of Southern Methodist University Law School, first made a name for himself working as a prosecutor in Houston for the Harris County District Attorney’s office.
During his 15 years there, he almost always won. By his own account, he sent 15 men to death row, according to The New York Times.
The key to his victories was his preparation and his folksy ability to win over juries. “His closing arguments were pure theater,” wrote Pamela Colloff in a 2000 Texas Monthly profile.
Summing things up for the jury at the end of one trial, Hardin reenacted the murder by pretending to pump shotgun shells into a truck. In another summation, he swung a pickax — the murder weapon — into a phone book.
Hardin left the D.A.’s office in 1990 and went into private practice. His resume shows a wide variety of clients. He represented the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson LLP in an Enron-related case. His firm, Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C., has also handled cases for Rice University, ExxonMobil and Dow Jones & Co.
Hardin successfully represented the estate of J. Howard Marshall II against claims by Marshall’s wife, Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy centerfold.
He has also has fared well defending sports stars, so much so that his firm’s website has a section headed “Professional Athletes.”
Former basketball star Calvin Murphy turned to Hardin when he was charged with sexual assault of a child. A jury acquitted Murphy after a five-week trial.
Hardin also got an acquittal after NFL quarterback Warren Moon was charged with assaulting his wife. Hardin represented basketball coach Rudy Tomjanovich and basketball player Steve Francis in separate driving-while-intoxicated cases. Juries acquitted both men.
Clemens, one of the biggest names in baseball and the winner of 354 games over a 24-year Major League career, hasn’t been charged with any crimes.
But former Sen. George J. Mitchell, D-Maine, named Clemens in a report about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
Allegedly, Clemens used steroids while playing for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998 and while a New York Yankee in the early 2000s. The report also accuses Clemens of using human growth hormone.
Brian McNamee, a former trainer with the Blue Jays and strength coach with the Yankees, is the source of these allegations.
Hardin says that McNamee is lying in exchange for easy treatment by federal authorities. “(He) only came up with names after being threatened with possible prison time,” Hardin said at a press conference earlier this month.
The Times reported Saturday that McNamee has retained Richard D. Emery, a New York City lawyer with experience in libel and defamation cases. Emery took aim at a 60 Minutes interview by Mike Wallace with Clemens that’s scheduled to air Jan. 6.
The lawyer said that if Clemens uses the interview to accuse McNamee of lying, the baseball player could expect a defamation lawsuit.
Hardin responded by saying, “My advice to Brian and his lawyers would be to stay tuned because (Clemens) told Mike Wallace the truth.”
Related stories on Muckety:
George Mitchell: connected or conflicted?
Barry Bonds hires powerful defense team
Steroid report centers on two suppliers
Read related stories: Law · Sports 
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#1. LEBRON MVP 12.18.2008
It would be fun to see these guys playing together.
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