Interior Dept. Wants Bball Game With White House

The new Interior Department is already gearing up to challenge President Obama on one issue — basketball bragging rights.

According to an Interior insider who wrote to TalkingPointsMemo, department employees during a meeting on Thursday discussed forming a basketball team to take on the White House. When seeing his new employees’ interest in roundball, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar went further.

“I will say this in public, that we of the Department of the Interior will challenge President Obama and his White House team to a basketball game,” Salazar said, according to The Washington Post.

Salazar, however, noted that he has to be careful since he “serves at the pleasure of the president.”

Obama and several other members of his Cabinet have the basketball jones. The president played on his state championship high basketball team in Hawaii and he has made it a ritual to play basketball on important election days. Attorney General-designate Eric Holder, Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have all played organized basketball in high school or at higher levels. Duncan actually played professionally in Australia.