--- title: Barack Obama Talks NBA Finals, Chicago Bulls During Twitter Chat description: Obama says he's sad to see the Bulls Head coach go canonical: https://time.com/3900442/president-obama-chicago-bulls-twitter/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-28T20:12:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:12.186Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Weighs In on Chicago Bulls Firing Coach og:description: In Thursday's Twitter Q&A og:url: https://time.com/3900442/president-obama-chicago-bulls-twitter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Weighs In on Chicago Bulls Firing Coach twitter:description: In Thursday's Twitter Q&A twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # President Obama Weighs In on Chicago Bulls Firing Coach > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7afa6305-82da-4206-997d-0f351f97bca1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Georgetown vs. Princeton: The Game That Saved March Madness [Watch (HLS stream): Georgetown vs. Princeton: The Game That Saved March Madness](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z2mnNZ9m.m3u8) (9:34)  _Published 2014-03-19. No. 16 seed Princeton's near-upset of No. 1 seed Georgetown in a 1989 first-round game made sure Cinderella would always get invited to the ball._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 28, 2015 8:12 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 28, 2015 8:12 PM UTC President Obama is sad to see [Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau go,](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/bulls/2015/05/28/tom-thibodeau-out-as-bulls-coach/28033467/) he said Thursday, responding to an off-the-cuff question about basketball during a brief Twitter Q&A. Chat participant Akshar Patel was anxious to get the president’s thoughts on the breaking news regarding his hometown team, and being an avid Chicago Bulls fan, Obama naturally weighed in. > [](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/603976299246321664) Obama’s Twitter chat had largely focused on the event’s main topic, climate change, until two participants tossed out questions on basketball, one of the President’s favorite subjects. Before the question on the Bulls, Nathen Vieira asked the President if the Cleveland Cavaliers’ JR Smith can outshoot the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry and lead the team to the championship. This was the President’s response: > [](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/603971948180176896) Sadly, though, the president neglected to answer some equally pressing questions including: > [](https://twitter.com/GoT%5FTyrion/status/603972186609553408) > [](https://twitter.com/TimJHanrahan/status/603970628069171200) POTUS, the people need answers. ### See Photos of Barack Obama in College  Chance Encounter In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack, who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs that she could use in her portfolio. Lisa Jack  Handsome Of her first meeting (in a campus eatery) with Obama, Jack remembers only that "He was really cute. But what else does a 20-year-old girl remember?" Lisa Jack  Styled In the photos, Jack says, "You can see he is just posing, initially, but as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out. He was very charismatic even then." Lisa Jack  Prop Jack never realized her dream of becoming a photographer and is now a psychologist. Lisa Jack  Pose Jack and Obama would see each other only a few more times while students. But in 2005, while on a tour, she spotted Obama on Capitol Hill and yelled hello. "He knew exactly who I was after all this time," Jack says. "I was amazed." Lisa Jack  Doubt On a dare from a skeptical friend, Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot. Lisa Jack  Searcher Initially, before she dug the film out from her basement, Jack never thought her pictures would have much life beyond her own darkroom. Lisa Jack  Smile When she found them, the images of Obama "blew me away," she says. "I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film." Lisa Jack  Charm For a while, Jack put the negatives in a safety-deposit box, so that they could not be used until after the election, when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.  Thoughtful Today, Jack says, she hopes the photos reveal a "spirit of fun and thoughtfulness." Lisa Jack  The Man Who Would Be President "I'm not political," Jack says, "(But) these are historic photos and they should be shared." Lisa Jack ## Transcript You could look at it as a David and Goliath. I think that's an American trait, in't it? For Americans to root for the underdog. People like to see the Davids come out and destroy and beat the Goliaths. There were discussions At that point to eliminate the automatic bids from a lot of the quote unquote smaller conferences. There were serious discussions. And just with one game all those discussions came to a screeching halt. Bobby Winston gets a scream from Mueller. Comes up! Fires! We were on a roll in the regular season. Yeah. Georgetown was dominant that year. They won the regular season Big East title. We went to the Big East Tournament and rolled away with that. So we were feeling invincible. We were feeling like no one could beat us. For the Princeton Tigers number 30 will be Chris Markhart. You know Princeton was, they were a young team I think it was a rough year for them. They barely won the league. They lost three games in the league and they needed to win at Harvard to clinch the spot. [ NOISE ] At that point I had achieved my goal, and the team had achieved their goal to be in the tournament, and, and win the Ivy League, so, so this was, I, I don't wanna say gravy. You know, so they're all getting together. There, there, watching the selection show all excited.. When we found out that we were gonna play Georgetown. And they weren't, they weren't that happy about it. Hey, Princeton and Georgetown. I'll tell you what, I'm supposed to go home for the weekend. If Princeton can beat Georgetown, I am going to hitchhike to Providence. I am going to change into the Princeton cheerleading uniform. I'm going to lead all the cheers. Let's go tigers, Let's go Tigers. It will never happen. They were Pretty intimidating. [ MUSIC ] When you see it and feel it for yourself that people are literally scared of you on the floor. Coach used to always say, they're not scared of you, they're scared of the ghost. And that's the people that came before us and put this program on the map. Georgetown, That's the ballgame, the National Champions. It was definitely more than a basketball team, I mean, I think we were a cultural symbol. Everybody wanted to see the underdog beat the controversial coach. Not just Georgetown, but coach Thompson. They wanted to see that. Then, I think you can take it a little further you know, white against black. You know, people wanted to see that. Not saying that there was some kinda racial tension but, you know, a lot of people thought Coach Thompson was a racist. Which was unfortunate because they didn't get a chance to sit down and just talk with him, find out who he is and what he's all about. I could have given a damn what people thought about Georgetown basketball. You know, it's what I thought about Georgetown basketball that was significant to me. You know, we won ball games and Championships and that's what we tried to do. East region actions continue here from Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. We are just about set to go. Kit Mueller And once the game started, I remember my, my first shot I took was blocked by Alonzo Mourning. And, you know, was a backdoor cut, and, and he blocked it, and I thought, oh, no. You know, I don't want this to be the you know, what it's gonna be like the, the rest of the game. I knew we were gonna get pressed, and we handled our press pretty good. We were running our stuff, we were getting lay- ups, we get some easy shots, we were making some baskets. We was known as a great defensive team. Full court and half court. But to play it consistently, every possession, at least 30 seconds. That could be a wear on. In the half court set, right away, Princeton was able to run their stuff, and they got few back doors early. The offense was working. That's a goal tend with a bucket for [ INAUDIBLE ]. It all, you know, all of a sudden they're up. You know, they, they had this lead. Well I think it has a lot to do with styles of play. You expected them to get some back doors. You expected them if they got a lead for you to be in a position where you had to chase them, and to be a little bit more cautious. And as it progressed, we realized, we're just playing, we're playing basketball. We're playing Georgetown, but, we were gaining confidence as the game progressed. Absolutely. Your, your Georgetown, you're the number one seed. Your, you're losing to Princeton. What's going on? And you can see, you could kind of tell they were thinking about that. Starting to think about it, sounded psychologically like oh wow, you know, we in for a war. This is why they call it March madness. I guess speechless would be the way to describe this here. The only thing I can say Dick is that the head of the Princeton cheer leading squad just called, wanted to know what sized tutu you wear. I can't believe what I'm looking at John! This is unbelievable! College basketball. Incredible. You know, if this was happening now it would be all over. It would break the system. Viral back then is like you pick up you're buddies, there's like, you know, holy crap, you know, like what's going on? And I mean, and, and then, and it wasn't just Princeton people. People are aware of this at halftime. You're seeing this moment and you just know that like it's, you know, I don't believe this. Heading back out there and, you know, going through warm- ups and there's obviously a buzz in the, in the arena. One of the key things is we come out And we score right away, which is huge, because it gets the crowd right back into it. I thought everything was fine until the first eight calls of the second half went against us. Then I said, oh, somethin's fishy here. They changed their defense I had less opportunities to shoot. We were missing shots. Well, we tried to play to our advantages, see I mean, just as their advantage was pulling it out, tempo and, which they do very well, you know, our advantage was Zo. It was a very simple strategy, Alonzo Mourning at half time was realizing wait a second just give me the ball. He deserved to get every ball every time down the court. So Mourning hits another big foul shot. 50- 49 Princeton down a point. 15 seconds left. I mean and this is like, you know when there's a one point difference you know this is a do or die shot. [ MUSIC ] Scrabis and Mueller Well, that was sort of like sort of a pick and roll, which you have, well we have the pick but we didn't have the roll, Georgetown man to man, They give it to Scrabis, So, I know I was gonna get the ball, I get the ball to the top of the key, and then you, you know, you always want that shot, you know, when your, your backyard or on the, on the playground you don't leave the playground until you make it, but, you don't have, 6'11 future pro's jumping out of the bushes to, to block your shot. Bobby Winston, he gets a scream from Mueller. Comes up, fires, blocked by Mourning! Loose on the floor! Jefferson can't save it. It's out of bounds! He made a, he made a great play. You know, the ball scrambles around after that, it's kinda chaotic. And we get the ball back with one second left. Lap and Mueller fires no, the Hoyas escape. And I mean escape. And advance to the second round in the Eastern regional. Unbelievable. The Princeton TIgers. Every time the game comes up, in Princeton circles, it's an emphatic, yes, he was fouled. [ LAUGH ] Was it a clean block, or was Bobby fouled on the last shot? That, you can argue until you're blue in the face. Tigers, putting on just a fantastic show here tonight. What am I gonna say? Alonzo fouled somebody? No, I didn't think he he fouled anybody. I thought he made a good block. He's very capable. of making a good block. They were a 20 point plus underdog coming in here. You have all this excitement. You have all this anticipation. You have all this transpire. And then, boom, it's over. [ MUSIC ] It was hard. It was, you know. There's a, there's 100 little reasons that you think of. Maybe we coulda done 'em. And then a 100 more, which had been worse. So you take things the way they are, or the way, the way they happen, and that's, that's all. That's all you can do. It was a huge loss for Princeton, huge win for college basketball. The way that game played out, make the world kinda say, oh, maybe we shouldn't get rid of Of the quote unquote little guys because they can play, too. That's what makes this, this event special giving smaller schools the opportunity to do something. People saw how big an audience it got, how magical and fun it is at the 16- 0 to one, it's like, we've, we can't lock any of these Cinderellas out. That would be ridiculous. The beauty of the NCAA tournament is, is that it's not like the pros, it's not a series, it's on, on any given night, the starts align themselves properly, a 16 can give a 1 a game, a 15 can beat a 2. 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