How many stories are going to be written about who President Obama has in his March Madness brackets? That's what I was asking yesterday, because the stories were out of hand.
Apparently I'm going to have to endure more, because not only is there reporting on who he picked, but we now are getting updates on how he's doing. Eleven out of 16 on day one. Who cares? (And that's not so great by the way).
I know he likes basketball, but let's face it, he picked UNC to win the whole thing, even though their best player has missed three games, may not play at all, and if he does play, will not be 100%. As Coach Williams (UNC) said, Obama picked Carolina because he attended a practice last fall, when he was on the campaign trail. He drove to the basket, and the players let him score. Or as Williams put it, "Tyler [Hansbrough] didn't take his head off."
Also surfacing is a report that Coach Krzyzewski (Duke) said he wasn't concerned about Duke not being in Obama's Final Four, because the president should be focusing on the economy. It was a big enough story that Coach K's wife felt compelled to text the White House an explanation.
It's just plain silly. First of all, Coach K is 100% right. Second, Coach Williams said the same thing when he was asked about Obama picking his team as the eventual champion. And third, who cares? Obama isn't supporting Duke. Coach K (a republican) almost certainly did not support Obama. They're even.
Is this going to become a regular thing? Does President Obama have a fantasy baseball draft coming up next week, and will we learn who he picked? Round by round? And will the fantasy baseball standings be published throughout the season, so we can see how his team "Hail2the Chiefs" are faring? Maybe Joe Torre will text him with a scouting report on how Russell Martin's (catcher) knees are holding up.
I realize that Obama used some "hip" methods to get elected. The Internet is cool, so he used it. March Madness is cool, so he's using that. I'm not convinced, however, that our president needs to be (or appear) cool...at least not this way.
I also don't believe for a second that he's spending significant time poring over his bracket. I think he filled one out (who doesn't?), while sitting up in bed, and it took him about 10 minutes. I'm almost sure (geez, let's hope) that the media is paying more attention to his bracket than he is.
