In case you're not aware, former NBA great Magic Johnson joined the Clintons on the stump in Iowa as he did in South Carolina yesterday to help them make their "inexperienced" case when it comes to Barack Obama.
Today we have THIS story.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Magic Johnson doesn't trust rookies to win a basketball game, much less lead the nation.
"You don't want somebody in there that is young or a rookie at politics," Johnson said Tuesday at a raucous rally in support of presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We want somebody in there that knows what they're doing because this job is so huge."
Johnson, a former star with the Los Angeles Lakers, joined former President Clinton to promote the New York senator's campaign. Implicit in Johnson's comments was the suggestion that Hillary Clinton had more experience than her rivals Barack Obama, who has served in the U.S. Senate since January 2005, and John Edwards, who spent one term as a senator.
Johnson didn't mention that he won his first championship with the Lakers as a rookie, and was named most valuable player in the NBA finals that year.
Speaking in a packed high school gymnasium, Johnson kept up the comparisons between basketball and politics.
"The more I practiced the better I became," said Johnson, who won five NBA championships with the Lakers. "That's why I support Senator Clinton, because she is the only one with 30 years of experience."
I have to say, as a huge sports fan, his "rookie" comments just had to make me laugh given that as a sports fan I know that Magic Johnson not only left college at Michigan State two years early after winning the NCAA championship as a sophomore because he was so exceptional that he lacked 4 years of experience didn't matter and also was probably the best rookie of all time because of the impact he had on the Lakers in his first season.
While I disagree with the assertion that anyone like Obama can rise up from nowhere with no connection to any entrenched political family to win office in Chicago and the state of Illinois given the tough tests this state puts on its politicians and the rough-and-tumble nature of politics here and now take on the Clintons and possibly win and be considered a "rookie" in the end, I have to say looking at Magic's own "rookie" experience only reminded me that nothing stops "rookies" like Obama from succeeding if they are exceptional and committed enough.
From NBA.com:
Johnson wanted to attend college close to home, so he enrolled at Michigan State in East Lansing. He put up impressive numbers as a freshman (17.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 7.4 apg), leading the Spartans to a 25-5 record and the Big Ten Conference title. As an All-America sophomore Johnson directed his team to the national title in 1979, beating Larry Bird's Indiana State squad in perhaps the most anticipated (and most watched) NCAA Championship Game ever played.
Having accomplished all he wanted to on the college level, Johnson passed up his final two seasons and entered the 1979 NBA Draft. The Utah Jazz were supposed to draft in the first position, but the Jazz had conveyed their 1979 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers three years earlier as compensation for the free-agent signing of Gail Goodrich. Thus the Lakers took Johnson with the first overall pick.
The team had just undergone big changes: a new coach in Jack McKinney, a new owner in Dr. Jerry Buss, and seven new faces on the court. With the country's most exciting college player in a Lakers uniform, Buss hoped the normally reserved Forum crowds would get up off their hands and onto their feet. "Showtime" was born.
Fans attending Johnson's first game witnessed the sort of exuberance he would display throughout his entire career. After a buzzer-beating shot by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to defeat the San Diego Clippers on opening night, Johnson went berserk, distributing bone-jarring high-fives and bear hugs. At this rate, most observers thought, the kid would burn out in no time. Even Abdul-Jabbar had to tell the rookie to cool it, because there were 81 more games yet to play -- and that didn't count playoffs.
That season's NBA Rookie of the Year Award went to Bird of the Boston Celtics. But the NBA champion was Los Angeles. The Lakers rolled to the Western Division title with a 60-22 record, the league's second best. (Paul Westhead took over as coach after McKinney was seriously hurt in a bicycle crash 14 games into the season.) In 77 games Johnson's numbers mirrored those of his days at Michigan State (18.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 7.3 apg). He became the first rookie to start in an NBA All-Star Game since Elvin Hayes 11 years earlier.
In the 1980 NBA Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, Johnson's performance in the series-clinching sixth game was the stuff of legend. Abdul-Jabbar was sidelined with a badly sprained ankle sustained during his 40-point effort in Game 5. Up 3-2, the Lakers could wrap things up on the 76ers' home court.
Enter Johnson, the 20-year-old rookie. Assuming Abdul-Jabbar's position at center, Johnson sky-hooked and rebounded the Lakers to victory with 42 points, 15 boards, seven assists and three steals. He even jumped for the opening tap. Johnson became the first rookie ever to win the Finals MVP Award. The stunning effort exemplified his uncanny ability to do whatever the Lakers needed in order to win.
In the Los Angeles Times, Westhead said of his amazing rookie: "We all thought he was a movie-star player, but we found out he wears a hard hat. It's like finding a great orthopedic surgeon who can also operate a bulldozer."
Sure other players had more years of experience than Magic in the NBA Finals that year; they had been through more playoff situations than Magic had; they had more experience playing center than Magic had in the game-clincher -- but because he was so exceptional that exceptionalism trumped whatever inexperience there was and in the end he was crowned NBA Finals MVP and his team won the championship, rookie star or not. I truly think Obama's exceptionalism is the same way.