Playing basketball with Obama? Been there, done that for one incoming member

President Obama could soon have another opponent to add to his growing roster of basketball buddies — a soon-to-be member of the House who actually played the commander in chief more than once before he headed to the White House.

Congressman-elect Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) admits while he “wasn’t very good offensively,” he “wasn’t bad on defense” when he went head-to-head against his old Harvard classmate, writes San Diego’s North County Times.

Obama has been known to gather up his friends and close advisers, along with an occasional National Basketball Association star such as Dwyane Wade or LeBron James, for pick-up games at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. He has made such games an Election Day tradition.

The California Democrat tells the paper that the basketball-loving president “took it to me every time” when the duo played years ago.

No word if Obama is among the close group of friends and family who refer to Vargas by the nickname he earned as a kid growing up on a chicken ranch. 

The longtime local legislator, who will take the seat of retiring Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), says when he was a heavyset child a family friend likened him to a bale of hay, using the Spanish word for bale, “paca.” Over time, Vargas says the name changed into “Paco,” which he’s still called by some of his confidantes today.

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