July 17, 2012
The Olympics in DC! What a Night!
I’m going off-script to blog about a personal experience. The USA Olympic Basketball teams played Brasil in exhibition games here in DC last night and it was magical. Not just because Lebron, Kobe, Durant, Chris Paul, etc. were on the same team. Nor because the President, First Lady, Malia and VP Biden sat just across the way from us. But because the crowd was in such a state of excitement that you could hardly sit still. I now “get” what it feels like to go to the Olympics in your home country. Here are a bunch of photos I snapped:
Brasil’s National Anthem (they spell it “Brasil”; not “Brazil”)
Our Team’s Introduction w/ Members of Military (everyone was screaming!)
The President & Vice President (place went wild when President arrived; chanting “USA”!)
Brasil’s Women’s Team Sat Right Behind Us (they played the game before; they cheered loudly in Portuguese)
The President & First Lady on “Kiss Cam” (she had just arrived & they didn’t know what to do; they had a “do-over” later in the game)
From “The Daily Beast“: Guess Michelle’s not a fan of on-cue PDA. The First Lady rejected a kiss from President Obama at the Olympic basketball team tune-up game against Brazil Monday night. The couple was shown getting cozy on the Jumbotron during the first half of the game, but when the “kiss cam” video display prompted some smooching, Michelle failed to comply. The audience booed as the president appeared to lean in for a kiss, only to get Michelle shaking her head with a smile. Obama broke her down in the 4th quarter though, when the couple leaned in for a crowd-pleasing kiss. Maybe the campaign ran some numbers? Or maybe Michelle just likes to keep the romance alive by making the Commander-in-Chief work for his sugar. Either way, it was a confidence-boosting night for the U.S. men’s team, with a 80-69 win against Brazil.
– Broc Romanek