[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.

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    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.