WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama arrived courtside Monday night to loud cheers and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" as he took his seat to watch an exhibition basketball game between the Brazilian and U.S. men's national teams.
Vice President Joe Biden and former White House aide Reggie Love accompanied Obama to the Verizon Center in the nation's capital, according to White House pool reports. Some audience members later spotted another member of the presidential party.
"At USA-Brazil basketball, @Barack Obama & @MichelleObama were just on big screen kisscam but no kiss," CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer tweeted.
A pool report confirmed that the presidential spectator "smiled," but "didn't kiss" Michelle Obama when the couple were caught on the arena's giant Kiss Cam screens. The crowd booed in response.
The president, sporting a dark blue Under Armour zip-up, greeted American women's national team members after they defeated Brazil 99-67 earlier in the evening. Michelle Obama wore a navy blue sleeveless dress.
"Work up a sweat, ladies?" the president asked before reminding the players that the U.S. "could not be prouder" of their athletic achievements.
During a halftime interview on ESPN 2, Obama said "there's no reason" the U.S. should not "bring home the gold" at the Summer Olympics in London later this month.
UPDATE: 10:30 p.m. -- The president received a second chance on the Kiss Cam in the fourth quarter. This time, he and the first lady did smooch, shown in a tweet from CNN's Wolf Blitzer:
According to the pool report, the crowd cheered and shouted, "Four more years!"
The pool reporter had already been ushered outside, back to the motorcade, before the fourth quarter. However, she was brought back in -- perhaps not coincidentally -- in time to witness the kiss.
UPDATE: 7/17, 11:00 a.m. -- The Obamas didn't know they were on the Kiss Cam at first, so they made sure to kiss each other when the cameras turned to them the second time, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday.
"This was the subject of some high-level conversations on the helicopter en route to Andrews Air Force base this morning," Earnest said jokingly during a gaggle aboard Air Force One. "I can tell you, based on a very good source, that reports that the president was rebuffed are false."
Earnest said the Obamas noticed that their images were on a large screen during the first half of the game and smiled, but didn't realize that "their images were on the screen in conjunction with the Kiss Cam." They didn't know about the Kiss Cam until halftime, when they first saw their daughters Malia and Sasha, who asked why they didn't kiss for the cameras.
"So during Act 2 of the Kiss Cam promotion, the president managed to steal a kiss from his wife," Earnest said.
Amanda Terkel and Jennifer Bendery contributed reporting.
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