Auction Block: The Inaug Shop

There is plenty to purchase on Barack's big day.

Getty Images

Not officially licensed by Nike, from the looks of it.

We're not sure when a sporting background became so important to presidential aspirations. Maybe it really isn't. The Kennedys projected relaxed American athleticism in their famous touch football games. Such visual appeal tied in nicely with the burgeoning number of television sets in homes across the nation. It might just be raw visual appeal.

After that, however, the necessity of a sports affiliation still didn't take hold. Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter were elected with little or no sports love required, or exploited. Gerald Ford had his history as a Michigan Wolverines football star and his frequent golf outings to fall back on.

When it came to Ronald Reagan, voters did seem to like that Ronnie had played Notre Dame's George "Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne: All American, and his turn as a football and baseball announcer in Iowa was mentioned from time to time.

For the Bush family, it was baseball. Bush Sr. captained the Yale baseball team to berths in the first two College World Series and his son owned the Texas Rangers. In between those bookends was Bill Clinton, who seemed to be a reluctant runner, but a genuine fan of Nolan Richardson's Arkansas Razorbacks.

For Barack Obama, who will be inaugurated in our nation's capitol today, the love of hoops is deeply ingrained in his image. During his quest to become the nation's 44th President, Obama's basketball bona fides have accumulated rapidly.

•He scrimmaged with the North Carolina Tar Heels
•His brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is head coach at Oregon State
•Photos of him in a basketball uni with his team from Hawaii are seen frequently
•Obama suggested that he would prefer an indoor court to the White House bowling alley
•Played one-on-one ball with a reporter
•Named former Hoya forward James L. Jones as his National Security Advisor (and still keeps former Dukie Reggie Love as his body man)

In addition, Obama has thrown out a first pitch in White Sox gear, and opined that the BCS system stinks. He has Tiger Woods giving speeches on his behalf. That might seem like overplaying one's hand a tad, but it seems to have worked out.

So far, it's been the major American sports that have lent machismo to our presidential candidates. Will we some day elect the first president who claims ties to the under-appreciated sport of free diving?

Don't hold your breath.

Some sports-themed, Obama-related merch for you on this historic day:

2008 Topps Obama Basketball Card: There's no doubt that the Punaho jersey would be a boffo seller if some enterprising Hawaiian wanted to start selling them. For now, we'll settle for the card.

Barack is a Steelers Fan Button: This seems like wishful thinking on the part of the Super Bowl XLII-bound Pittsburgh fan base.

Obama Personalized Bears Jersey: This seems a little closer to a believeable sports affiliation for Obama. The ability to claim teams from Hawaii, Chicago, New York and now D.C. seems handy for memorabilia fabricators. We're still looking for the first Indonesia soccer strip, though.

Dunking on McCain T-shirt: Does this shirt lower the level of political discourse? Absolutely. Is it also kind of funny? Absolutely.

Joe Biden Phillies button: We don't recall Philly residents throwing an all-night bonfire and booze party for the Biden Veep nomination, but we suppose there's some connection there.

Obama Rookie Card: Shouldn't an Obama rookie card show him knocking on doors as a young political organizer? We checked all of the basketball websites we could think of and never found any pro stats for the 44th prez.

Craig Robinson signed business card: The disarray inherited by Robinson at Oregon State is a drop in the bucket compared to what is brother-in-law will face starting today. Good news: The Beavers have already won more Pac-10 games than they did last year. Bad news: That means they're 1-5 in the league.

Topps first pitch card: Man. The Sox will try anything to load up on left-handed pitching.

"1963" Topps Washington Senators card: We always like to end with something bizarre if we can. We think photoshopping Obama (badly) into a scene from 1963 counts. The president would have been two years old at the time, and probably would have objected to the "W" on the cap.

Got anything old, something new, something borrowed, or something blue? Contact us at collectespn@gmail.com

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