A nice interview with Bryant Gumbel, where Barack talks about his secret love: Basketball! No Dukakis moment here, nor any reply of Obama's bowling photo-mis-op. There's an accompanying video of Obama on the court. He brings the ball in, drives to the left, and pulls off a sweet behind the back pass to a team-mate! The man clearly has got some game, and looks relaxed and at home on the court.
I find this type of report fascinating for a few reasons- First, it give the man a chance to show a more human element to his personality. Second - Obama gets to play up the sport/political metaphors...team work, integration, etc. and third, the timing of this report, just as Obama is getting hit for supposedly being out of touch, and leading in to the Indiana primary (in Indiana, basketball is a phenomenon that seems to transcend all other sports) is greatly encouraging.
It's just the right tone of light news and positive personality coverage to carry Obama out of the prior week into the upcoming primaries.
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2008/04/who-needs-espn.html