Obama forgives Michael Jordan
President Obama is giving Michael Jordan a pass for reportedly misspelling his name.
“I’m gonna forgive him for all of that, because I’ve got six championship memories that will never go away,” Obama said in an interview with North Carolina’s ESPN Radio affiliate on Monday.
{mosads}Former senior White House adviser David Axelrod revealed during the publicity tour for his new book that the basketball great signed a poster for Obama’s 50th birthday but botched the president’s first name.
“To Barrack: you still owe me dinner. Wishing you well, Michael Jordan,” the former Bulls star wrote.
That revelation came on the heels of Jordan knocking Obama as a hack golfer in an interview on Back9Network.
Obama said that, although Jordan had been “running down my game,” he knew the former basketball great had been an early supporter of his political efforts.
“Michael will always have a place in my heart,” Obama said. “The joy he gave all of Chicago.”
The president called the radio station to pay tribute to Dean Smith, Jordan’s coach at the University of North Carolina. The legendary college basketball icon died over the weekend at age 83.
Obama said Smith was “one of the greatest coaches in sports history” and that his death was a “great loss.”
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