The love remains but the body wanes

"Obama, the aging athlete - The president retreats from the physical intensity of basketball to the relative serenity of golf" -- Michael Fletcher

An excerpt: "...Obama has called the shift to golf a reluctant concession to reality. With basketball, the risk of injury is ever present. No president wants to show up to a state dinner or policy speech with a black eye, chipped tooth or a limp. There is also the ego-rattling reality that his game is not what it once was.

“I’ve been trying to work out pretty hard to try and stay in shape. I used to play basketball more,” Obama said in a podcast interview last year with comedian Marc Maron. “But these days, I’ve gotten to the point where it’s not as much fun because I’m not as good as I used to be, and I get frustrated.

“I was never great, but I was a good player and I could play seriously,” Obama continued. “Now I’m one of these old guys who’s running around. The guys I play with — who are all a lot younger — they sort of pity me and sympathize with me. They tolerate me, but we all know I’m the weak link on the court and I don’t like being the weak link...”