In the post below, Fox Sports echoes what so many of us have been saying since President Obama heaved a 5.6 oz sphere 56 feet on July 14 — and sets itself up even further as the anti-ESPN with its refusal to kiss the ring of the First Fan on a daily basis.

The idea that Obama is both athletic and some sports “superfan” — and that this combination is new and groundbreaking in a President — is a head-scratcher. Sure, he roots for the White Sox and Bears, and he filled out an NCAA tournament bracket. So he clears the “Manny Ortiz”/”Lambert Field”/”Please don’t muss my coiffure, football!” bar set by John Kerry in 2004. The fact is, every Joe Six-Pack in America clears that bar, and by more than a mile.

President Bush was a baseball team owner, a mountain biker, and a runner (a real one). Obama, on the other hand, has been spotted on a bicycle once or twice (wearing a polo and jeans) and on a basketball court a few times (the UNC defense was kind enough to allow him to make a layup once, perhaps out of respect for the office and pity for a man with his sweatpants pulled up to his nipples). Besides that, his closest tie to sports comes from his wife’s relatives (his brother-in-law is an NCAA basketball coach) and from television (he’s filmed two promos for Monday Night Football).

That does not an athlete or a transformational sports fan make — no matter how hard the President and his Sports Fan Czars at ESPN want it to.