Sunday's Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Toronto was one of the most politicized games in league history. Former President Barack Obama was in attendance and drew his adoring media pals away from sports and into political partisanship. And the circus also included Golden State Warriors' head coach Steve Kerr pushing gun control before and after his team's victory.
A common theme of the media echo chamber was that Obama was the "MVP" in the house, not the Warriors' Steph Curry or the Raptors' Kawhi Leonard. Check out these fawning reports from the media lemmings.
Andrew Joseph, a writer with For The Win: "Late in the second quarter, the in-arena presentation welcomed Obama and featured him on the videoboard. The fans responded with a raucous standing ovation and added an 'MVP' chant. Just a regular Sunday night for Obama."
Staff writers at Vancouver's Daily Hive wrote: "There was an unexpected MVP at the Toronto Raptors game on Sunday night. Not only did they give BO a standing O, the crowd then serenaded the former Prez with an MVP chant. Safe to say, the Canadians in the building were pretty big fans of Obama."
People magazine's Eric Todisco wrote: "Judging by the crowd reaction, the true MVP of game two of the NBA Finals wasn’t even a player, but rather attendee Barack Obama. The former president, 57, received a hero’s welcome upon attending the matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. When the Jumbotron picked up Obama, the entire stadium erupted into celebration, chanting 'MVP, MVP' and gave the former president a standing ovation."
With the NBA's "MVP selection" over and done with, the media moved on to more Obama praise.
Neil Davidson, of The Canadian Press, gushed: "Former U.S. president Barack Obama added some star power to Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night." He has 106 million Twitter followers, deserves a better seat than Drake, is a basketball buff who played JV and varsity ball in high school, famously shared his NCAA Tournament brackets and hosted the champion Warriors at the White House.
Hollywood Life called the meeting between Obama and rapper Drake "magical." The headline blared, "Drake and Barack Obama hug it out while attending NBA Finals and fans go nuts over the video." Obama looked "super stylish in a black shirt with a black leather jacket over it and faded black jeans." Joseph loved the styling ex-prez, too, noting, "He rolled up to Scotiabank Arena in a snazzy leather jacket and eventually took his seat alongside NBA commissioner Adam Silver."
The Huffington Post's Ed Mazza described the welcome for Obama as "rapturous." The Daily Hive said, "Safe to say, the Canadians in the building were pretty big fans of Obama."
While Obama, as president, was a hit with social justice warrior champions like the Warriors, his successor is not, the media related. The (Toronto) Star's Tom Yun: "Before the Warriors won the 2018 final against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Curry, James and Warriors coach Steve Kerr were all critical of U.S. President Donald Trump and indicated that nobody from their teams wanted the White House invite typically extended to winning American sports teams."
The San Francisco Chronicle's Scott Ostler wrote: "Obama might be the Warriors’ favorite politician. They visited him at the White House in 2015 after their first NBA championship, then pointedly stopped making celebratory White House visits after their most recent two titles, with President Trump in office. The Warriors visited Obama in Washington this season, eschewing a White House visit (no invitation was extended)."
CNN's Doug Criss added, "In January, Obama met with the Warriors in Washington after the team opted to skip the traditional White House visit because of ongoing disagreements with the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, President Trump."
Clutchpoints writer Poch de la Rosa expressed what many in the media were probably thinking when he wrote of Obama: "We hope to see more of him in the 2019 NBA Finals in the next few days."
While media and fans were going "nuts" over Obama, Kerr exploited the NBA Finals for his obsession with gun control. During pre- and post-game interviews, he wore a "Vote For Our Lives" T-shirt.:
"The shirt has everything to do with the tragedy in Virginia Beach a couple days ago, and how devastated so many families are and so many people are. The shirt is a reminder that the only way we can get out of this mess is to actually vote, and to vote for people who are going to be willing to create some change in our gun laws in our country."
