(AFP) – In basketball-crazy Chicago, the Democratic Party is hosting its convention at the home of the US city’s legendary Chicago Bulls, with hoops stars and enthusiasts such as former president Barack Obama headlining. Since Monday, the United Center — the Bulls’ home court since 1994 — has been welcoming thousands of delegates from across the country for the conference, where Vice President Kamala Harris publicly takes on the mantle as the party’s presidential nominee.
On Tuesday evening, Obama, who got his start in politics in Chicago and who is perhaps the most skilled former US president on a basketball court, will take center stage. With a statue of Bulls legend Michael Jordan towering over one of the center’s entrances, Democrats are hoping that Harris can deliver a confident slam dunk win over Republican Donald Trump.
For the duration of the four-day convention, the Bulls practice venue has been converted into a press center, with journalists typing away while surrounded by fitness equipment and hoops. On Monday night, former Bulls star Steve Kerr warmed up the stage for California-born Harris, who is a big fan of her state’s Golden State Warriors, which Kerr now coaches. Kerr is also the head coach of the US men’s Olympic team, which just won gold at the Paris Games.
“Think about what our team achieved with 12 Americans in Paris, putting aside rivalries to represent our country,” Kerr told the convention, as he urged voters to support Harris. “Now imagine what we could do with all 330 million of us playing on the same team.” Kerr also took a dig at Trump, referencing a signature move of his star player Steph Curry, who often celebrates crunch-time game-winning shots by putting his hands together by his head as if to say “good night.” Kerr repeated the gesture, and said that on election night November 5, Democrats “can tell Donald Trump, ‘Night, night!'”
On Tuesday, another NBA legend, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, reacted to Biden’s speech in Chicago the previous night, which was part support for Harris and part political farewell after a half-century career of public service. “The love he has for this nation mirrors the love that I and the American people have for him,” the former star of the Los Angeles Lakers — the favorite team of Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff — wrote on X.
Retired NBA coach George Karl has launched a movement he has named “Hoops for Harris,” in an effort to mobilize the basketball world behind the Democratic nominee.
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