coach joKes

Thursday was not only the first day of the 2009 NCAA tourney it was also when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski broadened his coaching to politics as well as collegiate basketball players. Coach K, upon hearing President Barack Obama picked the University of North Carolina to win it all, responded by reminding our president that there are more important items on his agenda than filling out brackets, "Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets."

President Obama followed Krzyzewski's criticism of his work in office with some b-ball analysis of his own, "Coach K, I think, is a great coach. And you know, Reggie Love, my assistant, played for Coach K. And so it's not surprising. I didn't pick him to go to the finals. Look he's a competitive guy, I just don't think they've got the inside game to go all the way. But I look forward to him proving me wrong."

Coach K relented finally, saying "Reggie texted back and said [Obama] wasn't offended," and then he iced the apology cake by continuing, "I love the guy, and I think he's going to be great."

Though the economy is still struggling, President Obama has only been in office for three months. It took George W. Bush eight years to get us into the mess we are in today. Its a good thing Coach K was only kidding, but its too bad that a lot of mainstream reporters and analysts are not, "The Obama administration clearly isn’t helping matters, given how markets have plummeted since Inauguration Day and continue to respond negatively to every so-called solution coming out of Washington," said Fox News' Noel Sheppard less than a week ago.

I, for one, can appreciate that taking five minutes to fill out an NCAA bracket won't hinder the President's work to correct the economy. And props to Coach K for knowing that too.