Tag: Barack Obama

Former President Obama picks Vermont to upset Duke in the first round

Former President Barack Obama released his official March Madness bracket on Tuesday, and he doesn’t think Duke makes it to the second round.

Duke is used to being a villain come March, with many celebrity brackets including them as a first-round upset for no reason other than that they hope it happens.

Former presidents have to feel like a new one, though.

Barack Obama released his official March Madness bracket on Tuesday morning, and he thinks the Vermont Catamounts pull off the stunning upset in the first round.

Vermont, KenPom’s 104th-ranked team, has a 19-1 record since the new year began and recently won the America East Conference title over UMass Lowell.

Obama didn’t think the Catamounts’ Cinderella run extended much farther than that, however. He had Vermont losing to Wisconsin in the second round.

If there’s some small consolation for Duke fans, the former president had UNC coming up short, too. The Tar Heels reached his Elite Eight before being upset by Baylor.

Obama’s Final Four consisted of Connecticut, Baylor, Kentucky, and Purdue, with the Huskies defeating the Wildcats in the title game to defend their national championship crown.

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

Twitter reacts to Chiefs’ presidential shoutouts after Super Bowl LVIII win

Users on Twitter reacted to both of the #Chiefs’ presidential shoutouts after Kansas City’s Super Bowl LVIII win over the #49ers.

Fans in Western Missouri weren’t the only people giving the Kansas City Chiefs their flowers on social media after the team’s win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.

Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden took to Twitter to give the Chiefs credit for a job well done on Sunday night, posting a note of congratulations and a hilarious meme, respectively.

Obama penned a thoughtful note directed at Kansas City’s roster that pointed out their poise in the overtime victory:

Biden posted his meme trolling conspiracy theorists who said the game was rigged in the Chiefs’ favor:

Between two presidential shoutouts, fans had plenty to react to at the game’s conclusion. Users on Twitter weren’t shy in sharing their thoughts about the posts on Sunday night after Kansas City’s overtime victory over San Francisco.

Check out some of their top reactions to both of these presidential shoutouts below:

Barack Obama places Michael Jordan among 3 elite sports legends

President Barack Obama had some high praise for Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan.

For years, the Chicago Bulls were on top of the world. All throughout the 1990s, nobody could touch the Bulls. Obviously, their six championships in eight years are the first thing people think of, but past that, the sheer superstardom of Michael Jordan made the Bulls a worldwide brand. To this day, they are one of the most recognized brands on the planet.

On Thursday night, Jordan was entered as one of 13 players in the Bulls’ inaugural Ring of Honor class. Every person inducted had an essay written about them by someone with ties to the franchise or a relationship with the team.

For Jordan, that person was President Barack Obama, who has deep ties to Chicago. In his essay, Obama placed Jordan in an elite class of athletes, praising his impact on the sporting world. (H/t Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune)

“There are only a handful of athletes in history — Ruth, Robinson, Ali — that can claim a comparable impact,” Obama wrote. “Michael Jordan shares that rare air. Not bad for a kid from Wilmington, North Carolina, who had once been cut by his high school varsity team.”

Unfortunately, Jordan wasn’t able to be there for the initial event, which took place at the gala on Thursday night. Neither Scottie Pippen nor Dennis Rodman was there either.

In his time with the Bulls, Jordan won six rings, made 14 All-Star teams, and won five MVPs, on top of a bunch of other accomplishments. His impact on the Bulls organization is monumental, and his impact on sports is just as great.

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Former President Barack Obama wants a tee time with U.S. Women’s Open champ

Allisen Corpuz received a significant congratulatory tweet from a fellow Punahou School grad.

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – In the middle of Allisen Corpuz’s winner’s press conference at the 78th U.S. Women’s Open, she learned of a significant congratulatory tweet from a fellow Punahou School grad.

“Congratulations to fellow Hawaiian Allisen Corpuz for winning the U.S. Women’s Open!” tweeted former President Barack Obama. “You make us all proud – and look forward to a round at Kapolei!”

Corpuz closed with a 3-under 69 to become the first woman to win a major at Pebble Beach Golf Links, besting England’s Charley Hull and former No. 1 Jiyai Shin by three strokes.

The 25-year-old USC grad grew up on the left side of the seventh hole on Kapolei Golf Course on Oahu. Michelle Wie West, another Punahou School graduate and the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open champion, concluded her competitive career earlier this week at Pebble Beach.

“Yeah, Barack and Michelle are the two Punahou alum that I get talked to about the most,” said Corpuz. “I mean, he’s done a lot in his career. Yeah, that’s really special.”

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LSU’s Angel Reese declines Biden’s White House invitation: ‘We’ll go to the Obamas’

Angel Reese thought it was a “joke” that Iowa also received a White House invitation.

Even though LSU won the women’s college basketball championship, First Lady of the United States Jill Biden thought Iowa should visit the White House as well.

LSU’s Angel Reese, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, tweeted that Biden’s comments were “a joke” as it’s not customary for a losing team to receive such an invitation.

During a recent appearance on a podcast, I AM ATHLETE with Brandon Marshall and Ashley Nicole Moss, Reese expanded on her thoughts.

“If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House,” Reese said. This was another example of the double standard that Reese faced during her tournament run.

The First Lady’s Press Secretary, Vanessa Valdivia, said Biden’s comments were meant to “applaud the historic game and all women’s athletes” and that she looks forward to celebrating LSU’s victory at the White House.

LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey initially said that the team would attend the White House. She has previously visited the White House after championship wins for Baylor in 2005 (visiting with President George W. Bush), 2012 (visiting with President Barack Obama), and 2019 (visiting with President Donald Trump).

Reese, however, posted on Instagram and insisted they aren’t coming. Here is what she said (at the 27-minute mark):

“I don’t accept the apology because you said what you said … You can’t go back on certain things that you say … They can have that spotlight. We’ll go to the Obamas’. We’ll go see Michelle. We’ll see Barack.”

Reese’s teammate, Alexis Morris, posted on Twitter asking if the Obama family would want to host them at their house. Former President Barack Obama tweeted his congratulations to the Tigers.

We will see if Barack and Michelle extend an invitation to Reese and her teammates, but it is also worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first time that LSU declined an invitation from the First Lady.

Reese also indicated that Biden was supposed to come to their locker room before the game, but she said the team said no.

When asked why, she said it was because President Biden “put somebody else” to win the national championship and didn’t have LSU in his bracket. For context: Biden predicted Villanova would win the title and his pre-tournament bracket did not have LSU advancing past the second round.

Biden isn’t exactly known for having impressive predictive skills about the sports world. His incredibly chalky bracket was unfortunately busted by an early Arizona loss not six hours after he published it.

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Barack Obama’s March Madness brackets feel like they were filled out last-minute, just like the rest of us

He picked Duke to win it all on the men’s side!

It’s the tradition we all love to dissect every year: Barack Obama filled out his men’s and women’s March Madness brackets, and surprisingly, he didn’t pick a No. 1 team to win it all on the men’s side.

But — and with all due respect to the former president — it kind of feels like he’s like the rest of us, filling out his bracket last-minute.

He picked Duke, a No. 5 seed, to win it all, even though there’s some buzz first round opponent Oral Roberts could upset the Blue Devils. This feels like, eh I don’t know who’s going to win, let’s just go with Duke because they’re Duke. I know people who are thinking like that!

On the women’s side? South Carolina. A better pick in my opinion given that they’re the favorites to repeat.

And here’s the funny part: He forgot to fill in one matchup on the men’s side. Oops!

All the U.S. presidents who played golf, including Joe Biden, Donald Trump

Sixteen of the last 19 U.S. presidents played golf as a hobby.

Sixteen of the last 19 United States presidents played golf. Former President Donald Trump, of course, is well-known as an avid golfer and current President Joe Biden plays the game, too.

The list goes back to William Howard Taft, who was president from 1909 to 1913. According to the Washington Post, Taft was admittedly “addicted to golf,” playing so much during the 1908 presidential campaign that his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, urged him to quit playing altogether.

More than 100 years later, Trump spent $50,000 of his own money to upgrade the golf simulator inside the personal quarters at the White House.

Almost all presidents who served between Taft and Trump played the game but there were three who didn’t. Scroll down the see the answer to that question, but meanwhile, take a look at those presidents who did play golf.

Rory McIlroy reminds us yet again why he’s golf’s best interview

Rory addressed a wide array of topics in Guardian interview: “This ‘us versus them’ thing has gotten way out of control already.”

Rory McIlroy returned to World No. 1 on Sunday and showed why he arguably is the best interview subject in professional golf, if not all sport.

Speaking to Ewan Murray of The Guardian, McIlroy touched on a wide range of topics. Here are some of the juiciest quotes:

On the ongoing civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf: “This ‘us versus them’ thing has gotten way out of control already. If the two entities keep doubling down in both directions, it is only going to become irreparable. We are going to have a fractured sport for a long time. That is no good for anyone.”