UPDATE: NBA.com reports that Obama was a guest of team owner Abe Pollin. Whoops.

It’s one thing to chastise companies trying to do business while taking bailout money from the federal government; it’s quite another to drop oneself in primeau courtside seats for a Washington Wizards game on Friday night and offer absolutely no explanation as to how one obtained them.

Friday night, [Obama] sat courtside at Verizon Center and watched the Washington Wizards trounce his hometown Bulls. One afternoon last month, Obama and his wife, Michelle, visited second-graders at a local public school because, Obama explained, “we were just tired of being in the White House.” The first lady chimed in: “We got out! They let us out!” [Seattle News]

It’s certainly possible that Obama could have paid for his seats out of his own pocket. But in a time where he’s demanding that such perks be yanked from corporate budgets, why not go out of his way to disclose that he didn’t use taxpayer money to get them? Why would he set himself up to look like a hypocrite? And nobody seems to have picked up on this; everyone’s shocked and proud that a black president would take himself to a basketball game. And I love how everyone is jumping in and yelling, “Well Bush never went to a game when he was president!” Bush probably never drank beer, either! It’s like he wasn’t even a real person!

Recent revelations in the life of Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas are that he would undergo his third knee surgery in a year and half (costing him the first half of the coming season) and that he got engaged to his on-again, off-again girlfriend of six years.

Well, Agent Zero finally wrote about the engagement on his blog, and not surprisingly, it involves an elaborate scheme to throw a surprise party for his fiancee and tricking her into proposing to him.  D.C. Sports Bog sums it up as such:

Now, the full engagement story comes out, and as you might have guessed, it involves a convoluted surprise party, white lie upon white lie, plane trips to and from Miami, a proposed meeting with Barack Obama, a visit from Mos Def, ice sculptures, a moon bounce, the touching revelation that Gilbert’s “done kicked her out of my house almost every weekend, yet she’s still here and she still believes in me,” several flavored ring pops, and a high school-style note which his bride-to-be had to read out loud.

It would have been a better story, but the juggling midgets canceled at the last minute, then the pyrotechnics went off early and set the petting zoo on fire, and of course the fire department didn’t come for an hour because they’re so used to getting pranked by Gilbert, so he had to put the sheep and goats in the garage, forcing him to move his Maserati outside, because the last time he let farm animals in that thing… Well, let’s just say live chickens and leather interior don’t mix.

MLB - The Angels already clinched something that matters - the division crown - now they get to bask in the glow of individual achievements. Even if they’re ones people scarcely care about. K-Rod tied Bobby Thigpen’s 1990 single-season saves mark by closing out last night’s 7-4 Angels win over Seattle. What good is a record if it doesn’t produce a souvenir that some crazed fan can auction for $3 million. Not very good at all…Feisty old man Jamie Moyer gave the Phillies five and two-thirds innings of solid pitching and Ryan Howard homered and doubled in another run as Philly beats to Brewers to gain ground in the Wild Card race…With the White Sox losing to the Blue Jays, the Twins fail to gain any ground, wasting Francisco Liriano’s longest start in two years (8 IP, 2 ER, 6 Ks) then fall to the Royals in the extra frame… Kerry Wood gave up two hits in the 9th but just can’t manage to blow the save. Ah, saving it for the playoffs. I gotcha, Kerry.

College Football - After failing to revive the Cleveland Browns, Butch Davis looks like he’s pulled it off at North Carolina. The Tar Heels crushed Rutgers 44-12 for their first win outside of their home state in six years. In their defense, crushing Duke on the road is so much fun, why would you bother doing it anywhere else?

NFL - As a precaution for the sports world-destroying Hurricane Ike, the game between the Ravens and the Texans has been pushed back to Monday night. So Week 1 won’t be the only MNF doubleheader with one good and one unwatchable game. Oh thank goodness.

MLB - The Angels shocked the world by rallying from a double-digit lead in the division to clinch the AL West crown for the fourth time in five years. They did so yesterday by chasing Andy Pettite with three runs in the 5th to grab a 4-2 lead that they would not relinquish. K-Rod moved to one save shy of Bobby Thigpen’s single-season record, which makes me one point of interest shy of giving of shit… After someone finally got a win on the road in the Red Sox-Rays series, someone did it again. The Rays closed out the series with Boston with a win in 14 innings, spurred by Carlos Pena’s three-run homer. Troy Percival tried to make it interesting by loading the bases with no outs, but Jason Hammel came in to close it out… The Mets don’t need a bullpen so long as they can score 13 runs a game. New York squandered a 7-1 advantage to the Nats, but behind four David Wright hits, went on to win 13-10…The White Sox end the Blue Jays’ 10-game winning streak, while the Brewers end their own three-game skid and the Dodgers stretch their lead in the NL West behind two Manny homers.

College Football - Officials have postponed the Texas-Arkansas game originally scheduled for Saturday because of Hurricane Ike. The game is moved back to Sept. 27 and will be played in the largest venue that doesn’t get blown away.

NFL - The Colts cut defensive end Ed Johnson after he was arrested for marijuana possession. Ricky Williams is already lobbying for his arrival in Miami… Marques Colston is out 4-6 weeks after having surgery on his left thumb, making him the only non-Seahawks receiver on the injury list.

NL - Jim Edmonds, left for baseball dead after being dumped by San Diego earlier this year, continues to validate the Cubs' faith in him despite being in the neighborhood of 300 years old. His was the standout performance in the coda of a four-game sweep of the Brewers. Edmonds homered twice, one a grand slam, and drove in five runs. Rich Harden had a fine performance of his own, holding Milwaukee to one run and striking out nine in seven innings…The battle for the most underwhelming division in baseball got underway in Chavez Ravine, with Arizona taking the opener by a 2-1 mark. Brandon Webb picked up his 15th win, improving to 8-0 in his last nine starts against the Dodgers. Manny gets to be Manny in L.A. for the first time tonight facing Randy Johnson. Great, Yankees-Red Sox matchups transposed onto other teams…Anibal Sanchez won his first start in 15 months, an easy task when your team puts up 12 runs of support…The Braves avoid a four-game sweep by the Cards…The Nats lost their ninth straight in the fnal of a three-game sweep by the Phils, but they released Paul Lo Duca, so they won't at least be weighed down by underage girls in the clubhouse. 

AL - The worldbeating Angels beat some more world last night, stomping the Yanks in New York 12-6 with homers of the three-run persuasion by Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter and Juan Rivera. But you can't win lop-sided games every day. K-Rod's gone a whole three days without a save!… Twins fans, no doubt showing their outrage for the stolen wheelchair, pelt the field with baseballs and field prompting a brief stoppage in play. They'd eventually leave happy - happy as you can be in Minnesota at least - with Minny scoring seven in their final two at-bats to take three of four from to White Sox, pulling back within a half a game in the Central…And the Indians and Mariners both won! On the same day! I hope you'll remember where you were during that once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. (I was beating it).

OLYMPICS - You know your city has a pollution problem when the press writes news stories when they can actually see the sky. Just sayin'.

AL - The Angels, owners of the league's best record, had a busy evening, acquiring Braves slugger (and, ugh, Baltimore native) Mark Teixeira for Casey Kotchman. Later on, John Lackey came within two outs of no-hitting the Red Sox in Fenway, before Dustin Pedroia broke it up with a single to left, followed by Kevin Youkilis spoling the shutout with a two-run homer. Try to be happy with the complete game win, big fella. The Halos are 7-1 this year against Boston, a team they have a problem with getting swept by the playoffs…The Rays take advantage of Red Sox and Yankees losses with a shutout victory in Toronto to extend their AL East to two games. In doing so, they become the first team to beat Roy Halladay three times in a season since, well, the Red Sox last season. ZOMG!…The Twins parlay a five-run 5th to take a 6-5 win over the White Sox and pull within half a game in the Central. Should've been quiet Jose, now the little piranhas will feast…The Rangers win in typical Rangers fasion, by an 11-10 mark and Ichiro gets his 3,000th hitof his professional career. Awful cute of everyone to pretend like the ones in Japan count.

NL - Carlos Zambrano, feeding off the aw-shucks-it-sure-feels-like-October atmosphere in Milwaukee, pitched eight scoreless innings and outdueled Ben Sheets with the fourth time in six head-to-head matchups…Arizona's Doug Davis has a big game tease of his own, going perfect through 6 2/3 before Brian Giles wrecks his shit with a single. Still gets the shutout win. Like those are special over the Padres… The Mets top the Marlins 4-1 and the Phillies scored multiple runs, so they obviously beat the Nationals.

Transactionland - Ron Artest got dealt to the Rockets for a crappy point guard, the rights to Donte Green and the first round pick of a likely playoff team. The Saints come to terms with first-round pick Sedrick Ellis and annoying former Dukie Luol Deng looks to finally get his long-term deal with the Bulls.