Coach Craig Robinson Already Has a Crucial Victory To Celebrate: Election of Brother-in-Law Obama

[DeepModem Mom]

WP, pg1: Letting the Big Win Sink In
Coach Craig Robinson Already Has a Crucial Victory To Celebrate: The Election of Brother-in-Law Obama
By Kevin Merida
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 15, 2008; Page A01


Craig Robinson, the men's basketball coach for Oregon State University, is also the brother-in-law of President-elect Barack Obama.

Craig Robinson was explaining how it feels to be on the verge of becoming the First Brother-in-Law to the first African American president of the United States. He was slumped into a soft-cushioned chair at a downtown Washington hotel, not far from the buffet table where the Oregon State Beavers basketball team he coaches was about to chow down.

Robinson has spoken only briefly to his sister, Michelle, and President-elect Barack Obama since the historic election on Nov. 4. He hasn't had time to sit down with his wife, Kelly, and reflect. He has barely had any private time at all to process his own emotions. He's a first-year coach of a team that was 0-18 in the Pac-10 last season, and is knee-deep in his own challenge to reverse the culture of losing.

History in the Oval Office? "It's hard to get my arms wrapped around it," he said. "It feels like somebody has told me a joke, and I'm waiting for the punch line."

As Robinson himself put it, he already had vetted Obama as a brother-in-law 17 years ago, sizing him up on the basketball court, in long chats. "Which to me is harder than voting for a guy. I got one sister, and I gave him the seal of approval back when he was just coming out of law school talking about community organizing."

And now his brother-in-law will be running the country? "Forget about the being-related-to-him part. How about growing up as a black man in the United States, having a black president? . . . It's going to start to sink in . . . what that means and how that makes me feel about this country and all the people who went before him," he said. "I don't have any words for you yet because I want to let it marinate and digest a little bit."

The digesting began on this trip to the nation's capital, where last night his Beavers squared off against the Howard University Bison. There was something about opening his team's season at Howard, and Obama's historic election, and this beloved sport he returned to in middle age, leaving behind his comfy affluent life, that all melded into a moment that just settled in his mind. He and Howard's coach, Gil Jackson, were both thinking, Robinson said: "Can you believe all of this is happening at this time, at this place?"...

***

Robinson, who is 46, is a shade over 6-6 and was a two-time Ivy League player of the year at Princeton. He played pro ball in Europe, later got an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and had a successful career going in private business. At one point, he was a vice president for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. But coaching pulled at him and, at 37, he left his own lucrative world for the college campus. He worked his way up from Northwestern assistant coach to Brown head coach to Oregon State head coach.

"Barack and I have always said to each other, 'Why not?' Why not be the president of the United States? Why not be a Pac-10 coach after two years of head coaching experience?" And the more you ponder why not, Robinson said, "it makes you think about why you can do all those things. And that's half the battle."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/14/AR2008111403970.html?nav=hcmodule

[Zenmaster]

1. And he's already 0-1 on the court.

After his OSU Beavers lost to a horrible team that went 6-24 last year on opening night yesterday.

He'd better keep celebrating his brother-in-law's victory, because he isn't going to earn many of his own.

[Rainbowreflect]

2. Well isn't that nice. One game and you can tell his future.

[ClarkUSA]

3. WTH are you to piss on Barack's brother-in-law after he gave up $$ to do something he loves?

Lemme guess... :eyes:

[Zenmaster]

4. Yes, he gave up a 7 figure salary for a 6 figure salary

I feel so badly for his struggling financial situation :nopity:

[BumRushDaShow]

5. And where is Morgan Stanley now?

:nopity:

[ClarkUSA]

7. Again, WTF are you to disparage Barack's brother-in-law?

What, is Free Republic down again?

[Zenmaster]

8. Go ahead and check my posting history

This isn't about politics, its about sports.

[tigervalentine]

10. You, Zenmaster,

are no zen master.

As far as I know, Buddhists aren't mean. And zen masters are actually Buddhist.

Tsk tsk.

[Cha]

6. Obama has so many

cool people surrounding him with such interesting stories to tell.

I'm so happy for this family to realize their dreams and in doing so is helping America to realize her dream.

[ej510]

9. Oregon St. is awful. It will take time to turn things around.