Barack Obama Talks About College Football, Jeremy Lin In Podcast Interview With Bill Simmons

President Barack Obama walks to his car after playing basketball at Fort McNair in Washington on November 26, 2011. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (File photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Bill Simmons just landed a great "get" for the "BS Report" podcast: The president of the United States.

The popular columnist recently interviewed sports-fan-in-chief Barack Obama at the White House, and reportedly discussed everything from college football to New York Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin, The Associated Press reported.

If the president is trying to use the podcast interview to score some votes, he needn't have bothered. Obama is already receiving large political contributions from the National Basketball Association and many NBA stars. But perhaps he just wanted the opportunity to chat with someone who loves sports as much as he does.

This is not the first time Simmons has had the opportunity to talk with Obama, though. In 2008, while working for ESPN, Simmons was scheduled to interview the then-senator for the "BS Report," but the network nixed the chat, The New York Daily News reported. ESPN later claimed it was because Obama hadn't yet been named the Democratic Party's official nominee.

Despite this row, Simmons continued to contribute stories to ESPN.com, and even worked on a series of documentaries chronicling stories from the "ESPN era." Simmons is also the author of two books ("Now I Can Die In Peace," "The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy") and the editor-in-chief of Grantland.com.

The "BS Report" podcast interview with the president will go live on Thursday.

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Comments

[notwithmycash]

10:05 PM on 03/01/2012

I caught the interview. Said he wasn't worried about the economy, price of gas, jobs or situation in Iran and was glad to spend time discussing sports in between campaign stops.

[Jacob Black]

11:50 AM on 03/02/2012

"Said he wasn't worried about the economy, price of gas, jobs or situation in Iran"

Could you point out in which portion of the interview President Obama said that?

[packerden]

05:58 PM on 03/01/2012

Will Obama say he is sorry for wasting his time goofing off to.

[thefredman63]

05:42 PM on 03/01/2012

fox news is it pmsnbc scare america nbc cbs abc pbs ny times all laughable 'NEWS" OUTLETS

[Corrupitcut]

05:41 PM on 03/01/2012

Obama will do anything as long as it isn't work

[Truwriter]

05:27 PM on 03/01/2012

How many soldiers died today? He wouldn't know, he is a gadfly, a figurehead as President, maybe the most lightweight President in our historuy. He has combat troops in five countries, is now proposing war against Syria and Iran. Nice that he is having a good time stroking his ego but Americans are dying because of his befuddled foreign policy and obsession with the Middle East.

[bvaughn385]

05:01 PM on 03/01/2012

This was a perfect place for him to be as he fits right in...".BS REPORT "...............GET IN THE WH AND TAKE CARE OF THE COUNTRY, campaigner in chief, what a nightmare for this country with his hope and change, I HOPE people will CHANGE this accident in November......of course the NBA will give him money, who plays in the NBA? You figure it out.

[catholic and proud]

04:59 PM on 03/01/2012

I am so glad the economy is fixed and everyone has a job so he has time to campaign !!!

[USAyesterday]

04:13 PM on 03/01/2012

I don't care what he does on his down time, even he needs some rest. However, I do have an issue with air time. How much of this can be brought under the equal air time ruling by the FCC. Allow one candidate time, you have to allow another.

[dcdives]

04:08 PM on 03/01/2012

I'm still chuckling about the time he was on ESPN at a Chicago baseball game early in his presidency. He was discussing how great a fan of the Chicago White Sox he was back when he was a kid living in Chicago. When one of the ESPN announcers, making small talk, asked him who, as a kid, his favorite White Sox player was there was dead silence. Turns out he could not think of the name of even one player on his "favorite" team. I realized then that he was a complete phony.

[Marc NL]

02:44 PM on 03/01/2012

I love people that are wasting there time commenting on a president wasting his time...

Something about an eye and enormous beam comes to mind.

[Mr Me]

04:00 PM on 03/01/2012

Maybe you should rush over and fall at his feet.

[amh9912]

02:14 PM on 03/01/2012

I am glad he knows where his priorities are!!!!!!!!!

[Marc NL]

02:38 PM on 03/01/2012

I know right, luckily YOU have your priorities straight by not posting on articles that...O wait...

Hang on...

So... how is it possible for you do do several things in a day like work and read the news but not for a president?

[angalmarketing2]

03:26 PM on 03/01/2012

Being President; he shouldn't have that much extra time but then he cares more about himself than he does our country. Good riddance.

[drum950]

05:39 PM on 03/01/2012

Our 'priorities' should be to get him out of the WH....

[Matt Thornton]

02:05 PM on 03/01/2012

obama does need to pick up the white sports fan vote... if they would turn off ESPN and look at economic data, he would already have the vote...

[pbgardenpet]

04:06 PM on 03/01/2012

Not in his life.

[Russ Marshall]

05:39 PM on 03/01/2012

wait I thought we all were watching faux noise, another stupid t-bagger, don"t even know what he is supposed to be watching, thats me!!

[13champlain]

02:04 PM on 03/01/2012

I greatly dislike Obama, but respect his basketball game. He can ball.

[angalmarketing2]

03:27 PM on 03/01/2012

I'm a senior citizen and would eat his cake, he's nothing but media spin.

[Russ Marshall]

05:41 PM on 03/01/2012

I"m a senior citizen and when he is done I won"t have any cake.

[butchbuss00]

02:04 PM on 03/01/2012

GREATEST WASTE EVER ELECTED , HES GREAT AT PLAYING BLAMING OTHERS , AND GOING ON VACATION AND BRAGGING , HOW ABOUT THIS MAYBE JUST ONCE HE COULD DO WHAT HE WAS ELECTED TO DO , WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY , AND GETTING OUR GAS PRICE LOWERED WHAT A TOTAL WASTE OF 3 YEARS THIS FOLL HAS DONE ,
HE SHOULD GET HIS OWN TV SHOW , COMEDY HOUR

[amh9912]

02:16 PM on 03/01/2012

But just think of what he did for tourism. He spent a ton of our (taxpayers) money at these resorts.

[Grandma Koolfinger]

02:23 PM on 03/01/2012

And created jobs in doing so.

[Marc NL]

02:31 PM on 03/01/2012

You are not bothered by facts correct?
Also shouting does not really help make you argument.

And what is a Foll?
Last question, have you heard of periods? they are really popular with people that read a lot of comments.

[b777d]

02:58 PM on 03/01/2012

Why dont you go f yourself period

[Wimbledon4Novak]

01:48 PM on 03/01/2012

Simmons is not a fave of mine....... He's made a fool of himself this week in not getting one of ESPN's 10 journalist invites to the Duke-UNC game....... he's a hater. But, if the President wants to curry populist support, juicing UNC lovers over Duke will do it. Coach K is a raving republican.

[Jason N]

01:59 PM on 03/01/2012

Coach K is a normal Republican, but yes, a Republican none-the-less lol. I doubt you're gonna see Coach K voting for Santorum over Obama.

Anyway... GO DUKE!!! I can only hope Saturday is yet another classic. How did Simmons not snatch up a ticket for that?!?