Justin Timberlake

It's no secret that President Obama is a basketball aficionado -- he played for the Punahou High School basketball team in Honolulu in the '70s, and can often be found shooting hoops on the court set up on the South Lawn of the White House. What's more, his brother-in-law is the head basketball coach at Oregon State, so basketball is all around him.

Photo via Deadspin

In the following interview, the President sits down with Hall-of-Fame announcer Marv Albert to discuss the state of the NBA, including his thoughts on sports teams' role in the greater community, his prediction for the outcome of this year's NBA Finals, and the future of coveted free agent LeBron James. This last point has raised some arms in Cleveland, who are desperate to keep their superstar from packing up for greener pastures. President Obama, ever the Chicago sports fan, gently suggests that James would look mighty fine in a Chicago Bulls uniform. Reaction to that from Clevelanders ranges from taking a bit of umbrage to outright indignation. And they say sports is the great uniter...

Bonus Video: the Prez is the real deal on the court too, boy. He beat former College All-American Clark Kellogg in a game of HORSE (or in this case POTUS -- which, of course, stands for President Of The United States). Think Kellogg let him win?

We've ramped up our soccer coverage lately, with an eye toward next month's World Cup. True, soccer is yet to be as popular within our borders as it is outside, but it is not lost on us that the U.S. National team has quietly improved its standing in the international football community. With Finals appearances at both the '09 Confederations and Gold Cup Tournaments, The U.S. enters the World Cup with its hopes never higher. On Wednesday, Coach Bob Bradley announced the 23 men who will represent the stars and stripes in South Africa against the world's best.

photo via ussoccer.com

Here, now, the U.S. World Cup Team:

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann, Brad Guzan.

Defenders: Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Spector, Steve Cherundolo, Clarence Goodson, Jonathan Bornstein.

Midfielders: Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Torres, DaMarcus Beasley.

Midfielder-forwards: Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan.

Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez, Robbie Findley.

LA Galaxy teammates Edson Buddle (L) and Landon Donovan (R) headline the US National Team. (Getty Images)

President Obama will spend Thursday hosting the team at his place of residence.

As for games, here's a quick look at their upcoming schedule.

Remaining U.S. friendlies:

Saturday: Turkey at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN and Galavision).
Saturday, June 5: Australia in Roodepoort, South Africa

U.S. team's World Cup first-round matches (Group C):

June 12: England
June 18: Slovenia
June 23: Algeria

Coach Bob Bradley (in white) leads the U.S. National Team. (Martin Mejia/Associated Press)

Could be fun...

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