To:  Barack Obama

From:  Paul Pinsky, Maryland State Senator

Re:  Hoops Invitation

Mr. President-Elect, are you looking for a regular pick-up basketball game? Miss your old state senate buddies? I’d like to offer my availability. I’m not known for being overly solicitous, but, as a long-time hoopster and a Maryland state senator, I thought you might want to hang out with another over-30 basketball junkie. 

Yes, I’m 58, but I’ve been told I play like I’m 48, and that brings me closer to your territory. I do have it over you on height. But, at 6’4”, I tend to play small. Okay, I haven’t left the ground in three years. 

In hoops, as in the Maryland Statehouse, I tend to go “left,” but I do have a right crossover that may occasionally surprise you. And you also needn’t worry about getting any special treatment when you’re driving to the basket. You won’t find me simply standing by and watching in awe. I don’t have a problem challenging authority. Just ask our long-serving Maryland Senate President Mike Miller or a couple of former Maryland governors.

Once a week during session, a number of us Maryland legislators get together on the basketball court, after long days doing battle, and exchange bills and budgets for backboards and baskets.

Once on the court, I’m usually a ‘pass first, shoot second’ kind of guy. You might say it’s my approach to “distributing the wealth.” With what I hear is your willingness to “throw it up,” we just might make a pretty good tandem. 

And on those nights when I’m on an opposing team, you can be sure I would work to shut you down, one of my strengths. Hitting an uncontested 3-pointer in Iraq is one thing, but you may have to work a little harder for it here. Is setting a high screen in the job description of your Secret Service detachment?

And if you ever need references, you can check with Bobby, a senator in Annapolis who never met a shot out of his range, or John, a benefits broker and “commissioner’ of what was formerly my Wednesday night group in Takoma Park, or George, a real estate agent who, too, serves as commissioner of my current group that plays Thursday nights in Adelphi. And for full disclosure: If any of them say of me “little offense, but good politics,” you may want to believe them.

Paul G. Pinsky has served in the Maryland State Senate for 14 years and represents Prince Georges County.