Posted on 03/01/2007 9:24:07 AM PST by slowhand520
Bush honors Heat, but with mixed emotions Updated: 9:21 p.m. ET Feb 27, 2007
WASHINGTON - Everything was going fine until President Bush dropped the ball.
Bush honored the Miami Heat championship basketball team on Tuesday, joking with the team in his usual manner. But Shaquille O’Neal got the last laugh when Bush tried to bounce a basketball while standing next to the 7-foot-1 star.
It thudded flat on the stage. Bush looked startled as O’Neal and his teammates laughed.
So much for the president’s basketball career.
Bush lauded the Heat, the latest team to get the presidential treatment in the East Room. He noted that the team did it the hard way, losing the first two to the Dallas Mavericks before winning four straight — a rare feat — to win the series.
“I congratulate you on a tremendous achievement. Even though you beat a Texas team.
“They had the stars, everybody knew who they — who the stars are, but it was the capacity to play together, to put the team ahead of themselves, that enabled them to be here at the White House,” the president said.
Still, there was some star treatment on Tuesday. Most of the team entered the room, and then three big names had a separate entrance — O’Neal, superstar guard Dwyane Wade and celebrity coach Pat Riley.
The president called O’Neal “one of the most well-known figures in the United States of America.”
“Standing next to Shaq,” Bush said, “is an awe-inspiring experience.”
Wade, one of the top scorers in basketball, came with his left arm in a sling. He dislocated his shoulder just last week and is now weighing whether to have season-ending surgery or enter a rehab program that could get him on the court in weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Addressing reporters later, Riley denied that he had injected politics into the ceremony. “I’m pro-American, pro-democracy, I’m pro-government,” the coach said. “I follow my boss. He’s my boss.”
Riles is the man.
Riley a man of honor.
He would been lauded as truth to power guy if he gave the Prez a bird in Oval Office.
“Standing next to Shaq,” Bush said, “is an awe-inspiring experience.”
Should have been the other way around.
I won't hold my breath.
If you don't vote, you don't count in the election. But so what? I don't believe everyone should vote. And I'm ok with someone who doesn't follow politics sitting it out, and contributing to society in other ways. Politics is a sleazy, ill business. It's a necessary evil. Nothing more. And the system does fine with only partial participation.
Shaq knew the natural tendancy while holding a basketball is to dribble it, so beforehand, he bled off most of the air as a practical joke. Pretty funny, good natured joke.
You just neglected to give the key word.INFORMED
and KNOWLEGEABLE voters.... too many people vote
because of someone they know is voting or some other
disjointed reason. Guess that will not change..but
the media could help if they weren't so damn bias???? JK
Too many people also try to "pick" the winner....like a lottery number.
My natural tendency when holding a basketball is to spin it on my fingertip.
ex-Globetrotter?
My natural tendency with a basketball is to fake to the right and then toss it over my head into the hands of Curly Neal.
Then, Meadowlark Lemmon throws a bucket of confetti at me, and then the band cues up 'Sweet Georgia Brown.' :-)
Yup.
I will not say it is awe-inspiring but I stand 6'3'' and the few times I have stood next to people close to the 7 foot range and higher, it is slightly intimidating.
Liberal jerks in the Media spinning Riley's comments:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/501181p-422642c.html
"The Heat goes to the White House this afternoon, gets its 20-minute audience with George W. Bush in the East Room. "I'm not a very political man," Pat Riley was saying yesterday about the occasion. Riley voted for Bush the last time around. "You got to vote for someone," he confessed, reluctantly."
No, but they were the inspiration for my acquiring the skill.
Then, Meadowlark Lemmon throws a bucket of confetti at me, and then the band cues up 'Sweet Georgia Brown.' :-)
Goose, my man! What's shakin'?
I love those guys!
He probably was in awe about Shaq's height. In the picture Shaq looks like a giant compared to the president.
Sounds like you spent some time on the basketball court.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.