Before the results to the 2008 Presidential election became official on Nov. 4 of that year, many of the Lakers players were almost as plugged into the outcome as they were the team scouting reports heading into NBA Finals seven months later.<\/p>\n
Then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama won in November, and the Lakers followed suit by defeating Orlando in Game 5 in June to secure not just the NBA title, but a trip to the White House to meet the President seven months later a day before L.A.\u2019s Tuesday night game against Washington.<\/p>\n
Among Obama\u2019s numerous supporters within the NBA community is Derek Fisher, who relayed his and his team\u2019s sentiments about Monday\u2019s meet and greet prior to L.A.\u2019s Sunday evening game in Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all excited about it,\u201d said Fisher. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those rare times in an individual lifetime where there is an election or an event that changes the course of the next 30, 40, 50 years. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people, including us, feel like President Obama\u2019s election was one of those moments. So to be the first team that gets to actually go and meet him, see the White House and be apart of the entire event is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fisher\u2019s backup, Jordan Farmar, expressed similar feelings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited,\u201d he noted. \u201cI\u2019ve never been to the White House, and being a guest there will be special.\u201c<\/p>\n
Farmar actually had a chance to introduce President Obama before a speech in Newport Beach in the summer of 2008, and said he jumped at the opportunity after his agent set up the details. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really special, and President Obama was really cool,\u201d said Farmar, who spoke to Obama for about 15 minutes before the speech. \u201cWe talked basketball right away; we had just lost to Boston in the Finals then, but we\u2019ll have something better to talk about this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet in his haste to pack for L.A.\u2019s eight-game road trip (three down, five to go), Farmar forgot to pack a suit to wear to the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to go get one made (Sunday in Toronto),\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t just go to the White House in jeans and a t-shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Farmar\u2019s suit was delivered during the game in Toronto; he certainly couldn\u2019t afford to be less than sharp as the first team in what is a predominantly African American professional league met the country\u2019s first African American President. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of us never thought we would see this day,\u201d said Farmar, who like Obama comes from a bi-racial background. \u201cI feel very special to be apart of it and to have the chance to share this with my teammates \u2013 we all get along and really care about each other, so it\u2019s really meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those teammates, Lamar Odom, responded immediately to a locker room question about his favorite president.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Obama, in a land slide,\u201d he said before offering some perspective. \u201cMy grandmother was born in Georgia in 1923 \u2026 A lot of people coming up didn\u2019t have hope \u2026 I\u2019m looking forward to going tomorrow and meeting him face-to-face.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Odom joked that he also loved Obama because he was a fellow lefty, his eyes sparkled a bit as he imagined taking a photo with the President.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust having that picture in my house in Queens where I was born and raised \u2026 that will be a big deal to my family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before the results to the 2008 Presidential election became official on Nov. 4 of that year, many of the Lakers players were almost as plugged into the outcome as they were the team scouting reports heading into NBA Finals seven months later. Then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama won in November, and the Lakers followed suit by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4162,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}