    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
    [January 31, 2005]
    [Pages 112-113]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Honoring the 2004 National Basketball Association Champion
    Detroit Pistons
    January 31, 2005

        Thank you all. Please be seated. Gosh, what an honor it is to
    welcome the mighty Detroit Pistons to the White House. With all the fans
    here and the players, I guess you'd expect to hear somebody ringing the
    gong. [Laughter] I love to welcome champs to the people's home.
        I also am glad to welcome members of the Michigan delegation:
    Senator Levin, thank you for coming; Congressman
    Kildee; Congressman Levin--that would be Senator Levin's brother. [Laughter]
    Joe Knollenberg is here. Thanks for
    coming, Joe. It's great to see you. Congressman Carolyn Kilpatrick--that would be the mom of the mayor.
    [Laughter] I'm sure the mayor was there
    during the celebration. Candice Miller is
    with us. Thank you all for coming. I'm honored that you're here to
    welcome your favorite team.
        I'm proud to be on the--sharing the stage with Coach Larry
    Brown. The guy must know what he's doing, you
    know? [Laughter] He's NCAA champs with the Kansas Jayhawks and now is a
    professional basketball coach that won the NBA crown.
        Bill Davidson--I've known Bill
    Davidson in the past. He is a true gentleman, a great civic leader in
    the Detroit area. Mr. Davidson, thank you for being here.
    Congratulations on the championship. Oscar Feldman, part-owner of the Pistons is with us. Thank you for
    coming, Oscar.
        Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer--both of them came to the White House as champs.
    As I recall, you came here in '89 and '90--I'm aware of who was living
    here then. [Laughter] Welcome back. Congratulations to Joe as the
    president of basketball operations--Mr. President. And Bill, of course,
    is the coach of the Shock, who we welcomed here to the Rose Garden
    last--2 years ago.
        Tom Wilson, the president of Palace
    Sports and Entertainment. I want to thank all the players and your
    families who've come. Welcome. I hope you've gotten a tour of this
    majestic place. It's a special place to work and live.
        I want to congratulate Chauncey Billups
    for being the NBA Championship Series MVP.
        So nobody expected you to win. I know how you feel. [Laughter] You
    won because you put a team together. You had people willing to serve
    something greater than yourself, and it's a wonderful example for kids
    on playgrounds or people in all walks of life. I guess you kind of just
    played it the right way. I think that's what the coach says, ``Play it
    the right way.'' That's how we should live life. That's what champs do.
    They set an example.

    [[Page 113]]

        As you know, a lot of kids look at you. They see you as the big
    star. They wonder what life should be like, and every time you set an
    example for a kid to make a right choice in life, you're helping save a
    life. And I want to thank you for the extent that you do that.
        I also appreciate the fact that you've been involved in great causes
    like teaching children how to read. I can't think of a more important
    cause than lending a gift of knowledge to a child. I remember the time
    in Houston, Texas, when a woman walked up to me and she said, ``Reading
    is the new civil right.'' I thought that was such a powerful phrase. If
    you believe that, if you believe you liberate people by teaching them to
    read, consider yourself liberators as a result of being in the program,
    ``Read To Achieve.''
        I want to thank you for setting an example for the tsunami relief
    effort. As you might remember, I tapped two former Presidents, 41 and
    42--that would be my dad and
    President Clinton--to join together to
    help raise money. I suspect basketball players probably have a little
    more pull than they do. And so I want to thank you for setting an
    example of serving people who hurt. In other words, you have taken your
    great championship status and converted it to good, and that's good.
        And so we're here to congratulate you for being the great champs
    that you are. And by the way, I also want to thank you for providing
    entertainment for our troops overseas. I don't know if you know this or
    not, but a lot of people overseas support professional basketball.
    Professional basketball provides great relief from their duty and
    entertainment, a reminder of what life is like back home, and I suspect
    a lot of them are Detroit Pistons fans as well.
        So thank you for what you're doing, supporting those who have helped
    make this world a more peaceful and free place. In other words, welcome
    to the White House, and congratulations for being called champs. Thanks
    for coming.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:05 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick of
    Detroit, MI, son of Representative Carolyn C. Kilpatrick; Bill Davidson
    and Oscar Feldman, owners, and Joe Dumars, president of basketball
    operations, Detroit Pistons; and Bill Laimbeer, head coach, Detroit
    Shock, Women's National Basketball Association.