Fansided

Every NBA team’s biggest celebrity fan

By Brendon Kleen

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 22: Beyonce and Jay Z laugh during the game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on January 22, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and condition of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 22: Beyonce and Jay Z laugh during the game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on January 22, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and condition of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 27: President Barack Obama watches from courtside during the season opening game between the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers at the United Center on October 27, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls defeated the Cavaliers 97-95. Note to User: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using the photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 27: President Barack Obama watches from courtside during the season opening game between the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers at the United Center on October 27, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls defeated the Cavaliers 97-95. Note to User: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using the photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Chicago Bulls: Barack Obama

The President of the United States was a Bulls fan! How’s that for prominent? Having spent much of his early life in Chicago, it makes sense that a basketball fan like Obama would begin to follow the Bulls.

He was fortunate enough to be in his late twenties when Michael Jordan won his first championship, and only 23 when the Bulls’ great was drafted. Certain versions of growing up are better than others, and spending time watching the Bulls in the 1980s and 1990s qualifies as one of the best versions of childhood. Spending time in Chicago surely solidified Obama’s support of the Bulls, and in turn basketball.

Though it has little to do with the Bulls specifically, Obama’s basketball fandom became notorious mostly from two separate anecdotes. One is the legend of Obama pick-up games that grew and grew throughout his campaign and into both administrations of his Presidency. Check out this David Axelrod quote from a GQ oral history of Obama playing pick-up:

"“We were playing before a primary debate in Philadelphia, and I got isolated on him. He immediately sensed the opportunity and went sailing past me.”"

His former Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, was a professional basketball player in Australia and the United States Basketball League. He was one of the first people to publicize POTUS 44’s basketball addiction. It makes for a fantastic story, adding to the mythos of Obama as Cool Guy.

The second way in which Obama’s basketball fandom became notorious around America was his annual NCAA Tournament bracket on ESPN. Each year, Obama would come onto ESPN toward the beginning of March and fill out a bracket live on television. If nothing else, it showed just how in the loop he was in the sports world. It takes quite a fan to know whether to pick some team like North Dakota State over New Hampshire Tech.

However his Bulls fandom is truly what shone brightest while he was in office. Just as we’ve never had a President so tapped into the culture, there haven’t been many Presidents who have so much pride for where they’re from. I know Trump is from New York and Bush is from Texas, but did that ever really come into play? Obama has never been afraid to make it clear when he favors Chicago over another city.

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