George Mitchell played basketball too???

This is getting ridiculous. It turns out Obama’s new Mideast envoy George Mitchell is yet another former basketball player. The 75-year-old veteran diplomat played for Bowdoin College (Go Polar Bears!) in the early 1950s. He now joins National Security Advisor Jim Jones, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Economic ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
589202_090123_ross5.jpg
589202_090123_ross5.jpg

This is getting ridiculous. It turns out Obama's new Mideast envoy George Mitchell is yet another former basketball player. The 75-year-old veteran diplomat played for Bowdoin College (Go Polar Bears!) in the early 1950s. He now joins National Security Advisor Jim Jones, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Economic Advisor Paul Volcker, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Obama's all-star team of ex-ballers.

This is getting ridiculous. It turns out Obama’s new Mideast envoy George Mitchell is yet another former basketball player. The 75-year-old veteran diplomat played for Bowdoin College (Go Polar Bears!) in the early 1950s. He now joins National Security Advisor Jim Jones, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Economic Advisor Paul Volcker, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Obama’s all-star team of ex-ballers.

Can’t help wondering if in-limbo negotiator Dennis Ross might have gotten the job if he had better ball-handling skills. As the picture below shows, he certainly has the height:

Update: Matt Yglesias points out that Ross played for UCLA in the late 1960s so is probably actually a better basketball player. He ought to at least get the Iran portfolio for that.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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