Barry Jacobs and Dane Huffman mull over Barack Obama's workout with UNC's team the other day, and ask the question: is this an NCAA violation? Well, technically, yes, but the NCAA is treating it as an exception.
It's hard not to think if this had happened at Duke, though, that someone, perhaps someone who was in the gym with Obama, would have complained that it gave Duke an unfair advantage or something like that, or perhaps someone would have said Duke got away with something because, well, they're Duke, of course.
By the way, this is a good chance to explain the concept of the Basketball Ticket more thoroughly, since we've gotten several e-mails recently which suggest we haven't explained it sufficiently.
It's really simple: it's a gag. All it means is that we endorse whoever has close ties to the game. So in Kentucky, we endorse Richie Farmer, the commissioner of agriculture. When Bill Bradley ran, he received our endorsement. If Bob Knight ran, we'd endorse him. We'd even endorse Billy Packer, that self-described "walking conflict of interest."
By the same token, we firmly opposed John "I hate Duke basketball" Edwards. Can't have that. And we did oppose Jerry Tarkanian's kid when he stood for office in Vegas, on the general theory that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
It is not a partisan endorsement in any way, shape or form, nor is it a recommendation for how you should vote.