Should president-elect Barack Obama replace the White House bowling alley with a basketball court? I realize we have more important questions to ask. And I don’t know if all the talk in the news lately is misdirected, because the bowling alley takes up a different type of space then would a basketball court. Will it [...]
Should president-elect Barack Obama replace the White House bowling alley with a basketball court?
I realize we have more important questions to ask.
And I don’t know if all the talk in the news lately is misdirected, because the bowling alley takes up a different type of space then would a basketball court.
Will it be a full court? Will it be a new building, external to the White House proper, but still on the grounds? (Maybe with access via a secret tunnel?)
What’ll it be?
So the word “replace” is probably not accurate and maybe the furor is mostly to give the bowling industry something to talk about.
Anyway, what ever happened to bowling? Remember when bowling used to be on television all the time when we were kids?
I think the question of whether Obama wants to “replace” the White House bowling alley with a basketball court is really just a metaphorical one.
In reality, isn’t basketball just replacing bowling as a mindset, metaphorically?
Metaphorically, bowling is old and sedentary and stale. Basketball is new and active and vibrant.
Isn’t the real issue that “old thinking” is being replaced by “new thinking”?
Don’t get me wrong, I like to go bowling every couple of years. I also like miniature golf every few years.
But I like to play and watch basketball all the time.
I like “new thinking” all the time.
I think our country wants something new and fun and active and vibrant and exciting.
Obama wants a parquet floor
But really it’s a metaphor
That America wants something more.
(Besides, in bowling, who the hell knows how to keep the score?)
I just made that up, like, this second. So, sorry if it doesn’t conform to poetry standards. :-)
Loading ...
Please donate. Your generous tax-deductible donation helps the Black Fives Foundation use this history to teach life lessons relevant today! Thank you!
Sometimes a basketball court is just a basketball court. :)
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Yes, this was a Nixon injection wasn’t it. Update the place. Make a change even if no one uses it but him. Remember he’s nominating a basketball playing cabinet.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Yes. “Operation New Basketball Court” is a top priority.
I just wish I could get an invite to the first Midnight Madness Tip Off at the White House.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Malia and Sasha may prefer the bowling alley. President-Elect Obama’s parquet floor may have to be in an extension or another building on the grounds!
Maybe he’ll just settle for pick up games at a favorite gym as he does now!
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
For Sure. He’s the First Baller and First Brother. It’s in his genes. Can you imagine this game. US Olympic Basketball Team vs First Ballers !!!! I love to dream.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Diwali and Happy Kwanzaa !!! The whole world is celebrating.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Why not just build a great basketball court and leave the bowling alley?
A future president may want to do both and I am sure a great athlete like Obama would love to bowl too! Sometimes it helps people think, especially if they are by themselves. I can see Obama working at midnight and having to clear his head, he goes down and bowls…it is just a change of pace from shooting hoops, and “POW”an idea comes to him while getting his third strike!
I think bowling is fun to play and boring to watch..that is why it is not on TV anymore.
Wolvereine
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
He is new, he is the leader and he chooses the court. Leave the bowling to someone else. If he is not a bowler, which I assume he isn’t then go with what you want. It is the prerogative of the President and he has earned the right to put his mark on the White House. Someone else decided to put a bowling alley right? Why should he have to live within someone elses decision? I don’t even know if his daughters like to bowl and why use it because it is there. He needs to wear his Black Fives gear when he is playing!
Also put some Black art in that house while your at it!!
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Spending the money to build a nice basketball court during these tough economic times sends the wrong message to the American public. Let’s get the economy back on track and our boys home from Iraq – then build the court!
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Hey Claude,
If the word “replace” is giving the bowling alley industry something to talk about, then perhaps we could use some politically correct jargon to say the same thing. How about: Obama will upgrade the ballroom; Obama will bounce basketballs instead of bowling balls on the new hardwood floor in the game room; Obama will transition the alley to a court; Obama will transform the bowling alley into a basketball court; and so on…
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
I’m with Wolvereine. He can leave the bowling alley and add a bball court. He can have them both.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Hell Yeah,
If ballin’ helps a man de-stress while he puts eight years of a mess back together then I say ball on. And call Ray-Ray, Pookie and em’ over every Sunday afternoon to play too. But seriously once again another layer on the cake of political and racial divide. Would this be a question if Jimmy Carter wanted to play hoops back in the day?
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Here’s an email reply from one reader:
Which indirectly and perhaps unintentionally brings up in my mind the question of national security. Don’t we want our president to be as calm and clear-minded as possible? If having a regular hoops game does that for him, then shouldn’t he have a hoops court built at the White House? Isn’t it a bigger waste of tax-payer dollars to pay for constant and massive Secret Service escorts to some local gym in Washington, D.C.? What about precious time wasted off site in traffic? What about the security risk? Indeed, the court construction seems a small price to pay. I think it would send a bad signal NOT to build one. In fact, I say build two courts. One indoor for the winter, and a new one outdoors for the summer. OK, the outdoor court can wait.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
The audacity of Barack to consider a basketball court in the White House!!!
Seriously there’s nothing wrong with change in the White House, although with the stigma attached to blackmen and basketball, I can see the bigotry of some reporters who wouldn’t hesitate to compare Barack to (some) of the black college basketball athletes who fail to perform academically in top notch colleges. I’ve worked with other black men who told me they chose not to speak about sports at work to avoid being stereo typed, even though they we’re die hard basketball fans. No matter what Barack does people will judge him, undermine his accomplishment to be voted as President Elect, such as the question online stating did Barack buy$ his way into the White House, is he really black etc. I say he should walk in his authority and don’t compromise his enjoyment because of a stereotype. He’s already proven himself a worthy candidate, one of competence. I don’t care if he had a cook out in the White House with Barbeque, and he Oprah, and Colin Powell was doing the electric slide. In order to be true to the country, he has to remain being true to himself.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Now you should already know the answer as the namesake of one of my favorite hip hop group emcee’s name and a song he was featured on.
two words! mos def!
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
He should learn to bowl, or at least let his kids laugh at him. He can get a run at American U, vs. Kermit Washington (best to steer clear of the Poli Sci types at Georgeton U.) or use the gyms at the CIA, FBI, Pentagon (show which way the home calls will go now). There’s got to be a lawyers’ league in town (use the Secret Service as refs – if yu’ve ever seen lawyers play, they NEED some throwing down on). TWEEET…Guantanamo!
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Leave the bowling alley alone and add a basketball court either by extending the building out or adding another building. Besides that ceiling is too low in there. If your gonna add a court do it right. He is the prez he can do whatever he wants! Besides that will make it his mark and retain history. Look how old the bowling alley is. That in itself is cool. Otherwise when another president takes office if the bowling alley is replaced with a court by obama then it may get changed back. This way both should stay for a long time. The girls would probably love the bowling alley more than the basketball court. I say simply have both!
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Hey Trokon, you have me crackin’ up! LOL! That’s right! Most of his basketball playing appointees are white, so I don’t think he’ll get that kind of criticism at all. And the fact is that statistically most of the people who play basketball are white, just by the numbers. Now if he starts getting tattoos and wearing big platinum diamond chains, that’s another issue. And if his Secret Service motorcade is all rimmed out Escalades! But even if he did, so what?
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Yeah it’s funny how we’re quick to take stereo-types and make definitive statements. That’s interesting to know statistically whites play basketball more than blacks. Just like it’s said whites are the major consumers of Hip-Hop, NBA games, etc. However, that doesnt’ mean blacks enjoyment of the game is any less because we don’t sew our money into one of our favorite past times. Saying basketball is one of our, (blacks) favorite pastime could also be an assumption considering there are blacks all over the wolrd and many other blacks play soccer. Now the fact Barack has Kenyan roots, it would be a trip if Barack built an indoor track, or soccer facility in the White House. I was a first black myself, in highschool I was the first prom King in the History of that school. I didn’t buy my way to victory I’m a dark skinned brother of native Liberian parents by way of Detroit and I won just being me. I found out the following year someone from Korea won for the 1st time the following year. With that said, since Barack’s election changed the world and politics in America overnight, if we had a Japanese President and he or she decided to get a state of the art ping-pong table or whatever, if we had or when we have a Spanish President the change will continue. This is the residual from the audacity of hope, and a preface to the audacity of change. I’m looking forward to the next blog topic.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Basketball is an American sport, originally. So we should be proud of that. Bowling was invented in some other country, probably England. So, how patriotic is that?? And they have a tennis court. Tennis is definitely not originally American. So, how patriotic is that?? And, anyone who thinks basketball is a black sport is simply wrong. At one point it was a “Jewish” sport. Obama is inspiring a whole lot of people to get back in the gym, including me. I like that.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0
Jim, I agree. It would be almost too easy to construct a new building, perhaps connect it to the White House through an underground passageway, and have that same building double as a regular fitness facility with a basketball court, lockers, showers, meeting room, TV lounge, juice bar, and assorted exercise machines. It doesn’t have to be huge. Just a modest sunken structure. It’s tIme to upgrade anyway.
Like / Dislike:
0 
0