The pickup game has become an Election Day tradition, which started during the 2007 Iowa Caucus with a then underdog Obama. This time playing with former NBA Champions, the President’s brother-in-law and Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass, Reggie Love, Mike Ramos and Marty Nesbitt.

Image via Chicago Bulls

“I’m banned from going to the White House, so I’m not going to make it. But I’m going home to D.C., I’m just not allowed to go to the White House,” West told the Ft. Worth- Star Telegram. “That’s what happens when you make bad decisions in your life. You can’t go to the White House.”

After the media picked up the story, West went on a Tweeting rampage because he felt reporters were asking him unrelated basketball questions including saying he, “He says he has to sleep in his car because he can’t get apartment complexes in Dallas to approve him because of things they read on the internet,” and “The league minimum of $800,000 isn’t really all that much because of lawyer fees, agent fees, league fines, escrow, and his divorce settlement.”

But don’t feel too bad for West, he didn’t even play for the Dallas Mavericks Championship team las year and played for the Boston Celtics.

The President took a break from national debt talks to congratulate the team, who despite winning the World Series in 1954 did not visit President Dwight Eisenhower because it was before the tradition started.

Obama poked fun at Giants Tim Lincecum saying, “America learned sometimes it’s a good idea to bet on the skinny guy,” and telling Brian Wilson he “feared the beard.”

The President told the crowd of almost 200 people, which included prominent guests House Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “So even though this team is a little different, even though these players haven’t always followed the traditional rules, one thing they know is how to win.”

One person not in attendance was the Machine, who apparently couldn’t clear Secret Service!

Volkmann is an assistant wrestling coach at a Minnesota high school. In an interview with Fox News Radio, Volkmann said, “They didn’t like how I was representing the school… They said I was representing them bad because of what I said about the president and his policies.”

In a post match victory interview, UFC Jacob Volkmann said he wants his next opponent to be President Obama (3:00 mark in the video). Volkmann explained he is struggling to open up his own chiropractor practice, and he does not agree with the Health Care Bill and wanted to knock some sense into the President.

MMA Fighting reporter Ariel Helwani joked with Volkmann about his comment, but it was no laughing matter when Secret Service agents showed up at the Minnesota high school Volkmann coaches wrestling at to investigate the threat.

Volkmann told the Pioneer Press, the Secret Service showed up with his picture and a transcript of the UFC interview. Agents wanted to know if Volkmann planned to go to Washington DC to hurt the President, but Volkmann told them, “No, I can’t even afford the plane ticket.”

The encounter lasted around three minutes. Lucky for Volkmann, he did not have to go through the full body scan.

It’s a good thing too, Vick is the leading candidate for the NFL’s MVP and has helped the Eagles to the NFC Division title. Obama spoke to Lurie after he announced he would be adding solar panels to Eagles’ stadium Lincoln Financial Field.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, the President told Lurie, “It’s never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail.” Lurie said Obama thought, “We did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall.”

After all, America is built on second chances, just don’t let Vick Bo!

Other players in the pickup game were White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who played basketball in college at Duke University, and other family members.

In response to injuring the President, Decerega said:

“I learned today the president is both a tough competitor and a good sport. I enjoyed playing basketball with him this morning. I’m sure he’ll be back out on the court again soon.”

Contrary to earlier reports, it was not Sarah Palin who elbowed the President, but I am sure she would have liked to and vise versa. Get well soon Barack xoxo TJC

Former NFL player Jon Runyan  won the New Jersey US House of Representatives in the 3rd Congressional District.  Runyan defeated incumbent  John Adler in a close race. Runyan ran saying he was against health care reform and is a former U of M football player. The former Philadelphia Eagles tackle also helped the Tennessee Titans reach the Super Bowl in 2000.

Democrat Heath Shuler won reelection for  North Carolina House of Representative. Shuler considers himself a conservative democratic. Though Shuler was a quaterback and drafted third overall in the 1994 draft, he only played four years in the NFL.  Shuler has been North Carolina’s 11 district rep since 2007, making his career as a Congressman longer than his career in the NFL.

Republican Shawn Bradley, a former 7 ’6″ NBA center, came up short in his race for Utah’s State House of  Representatives for District 44.  Bradley was quoted by the Wall Street Journal saying, “As a professional entertainer in sports, you get a lot of real-world experience in a world that’s not very real—which is a lot of what politics are.”

Republican and former NFL player Keith Fimian also lost in his election for the US House of Representative seat for the 11th District of Virginia. This was Fimian’s second stint at a run for the House. Fimian ran in 2008 but was defeated by incumbent and reelected Gerry Connolly. But not all is lost for Fimian, the margin is so small between Fimian and Connolly that a recount is pending.

In a race too close to call is NBA center Chris Dudley run for Governor of Oregon. As of Wednesday morning, Republican nominee Dudley had a one percent lead over Democratic nominee John Kitzhaber by about 18,000 votes. Dudley has no previous political experience but won 40% of the vote in the GOP primaries.

One sports star who will not be running for political office is LA Lakers coach Phil Jackson. In an interview with the LA Times about the midterm elections, Jackson said: “It’s just been awful, the ads. The substance has just been awful. I don’t know anybody that doesn’t put a mute on their TV when the ads come on.”

Anthony tweeted a campaign solicitation from Obama’s campaign for the upcoming November election. Obama then retweeted @carmeloanthony. While it was probably Obama’s people doing the retweeting, maybe next Friday Anthony can #FF Obama.

In other Twitter news, Jay Marriotti deleted his Twitter account… to follow Thejerseychaser.com  click here!

It is not known how long LeBron took to make the decision between choosing a hot dog or a hamburger…