Obama Breaks His Ovechkin Silence

Because it's July and because it's Washington, the tempest in a teapot that is Barack Obama and him not attending a Capitals game this past season starts up again with the President in Moscow.

D.C. Sports Bog has the details of the visit - and the tough questioning - over the First Fan missing out on the two-time MVP performing just blocks away from the White House.

The whole scene started when Obama put Ovechkin on a list of great Russians at a talk with students at a Moscow elementary school.

"As a resident of Washington, D.C., I continue to benefit from the contributions of Russians -- specifically, from Alexander Ovechkin," the President said. "We are very pleased to have him in Washington, D.C."

However, NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd wasn't about to let Obama skate without committing to a visit to the Verizon Center without the hardwood on the floor, but the President was deft in his deflection of the issue.

Todd: You mentioned Ovechkin in there, our friend in Washington. Do you think should you have been transparent and said you've never been to a hockey game? Are you going to fix this?

Obama: The truth of the matter is is that i have watched this guy play, and he's outstanding. But you know, Chuck, I grew up in Hawaii....

Todd: Don't tell those Blackhawk fans that. You became a Bulls fan!

Obama: We have basketball [in Hawaii]. We didn't have hockey. I love watching hockey.

While setting a record for sports-related starts to a Presidency, everyone from Ted Leonsis to Dick Vitale have been asking Obama to come to a Capitals game.

A sitting President has attended a Capitals game just once, as then-president Bill Clinton attended the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals between the Caps and Sabres, and former Vice Presidents Dan Quayle and Al Gore were regulars when the team played at the Capital Centre.