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President Obama 'very impressed' with breakout basketball star Jeremy Lin
Even President Obama has caught Lin-sanity.
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that the president is "very impressed" with New York Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin, who has scored more points in his first six career starts than any player since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976.
"As you know, the President is an avid sports fan, and a particularly avid basketball fan, and we were speaking about Jeremy Lin on Marine One as we flew here — to Andrews Air Force Base this morning. If anybody caught the highlights from last night, they were pretty breathtaking," Carney said aboard Air Force One as the president traveled to Wisconsin.
The Knicks are undefeated since he began starting for the team, and Obama — who continues to regularly play pickup basketball games with friends — is impressed.
"It's just a great story, and the President was saying as much this morning. It's obviously terrific for the New York Knicks, but it's the kind of sports story that transcends the sport itself," Carney said.
Carney did not mention whether the president had reached out to the rising star, although he declared Obama "very impressed and fully up to speed."
Obama is visiting Milwaukee for a speech on the economy and tour of the Master Lock factory.
Obama has deep ties to the NBA, forming friendships with some current and former players. When the league's season was threatened by a labor dispute over the winter, the president had planned the "Obama Classic Basketball Game," a pickup game - and fundraiser for his reelection campaign — featuring more than two dozen of the sport's current and past all-stars. The event was scrapped, however, once the league and player's union came to a collective bargaining agreement.
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