Obama Typifies New Geek-Jock Hybrid

Last week Barack Obama looked sharp while engaging in a little bit of lightsaber play in front of the White House. And why wouldn't he look good, as the president is an athletic guy, so long as he is nowhere near a bowling alley.

But he is also a grown man who is willing to embrace Jedi weaponry, which is a clear mark of extreme geekdom in this galaxy not so far, far away.

All further proof that Obama, a gym rat with a Spock-like demeanor, is the rare athletic geek. Well maybe not that rare, as there are surely plenty of other geeks who also cut a coordinated figure on the odd occasion they aren't hunched over some sort of monitor.

But, on the flip side, how many bona fide jocks have genuinely geeky characteristics? With a little searching, we found a handful of professional athletes who fit right in to Obama's America, where the long-standing gulf between geek and jock is finally starting close.

Curt Schilling
Schilling is such a fan of the tactical-level war board game Advance Squad Leader that he created his very own convention for ASL enthusiasts when the baseball season didn't allow him to attend the official event. He's also founded a video game company, 38 Studios, and is busy developing a MMORPG with famed comic book illustrator Todd McFarlane. Add the fact that Schilling was one of the first celebrities to start seriously blogging, and you have the captain of any jock-geek team
Doug Glanville
The first time Glanville faced Schilling, his former teammate and fellow gamer, he hit two home runs off the right-hander. Then he went directly to the Geek Hall of Fame by dedicating the power surge to his "lovable dwarf Paladin," who Schillings' character had callously assassinated in the online fantasy game EverQuest. Glanville, who received a degree in engineering at Penn before amassing over 1,000 hits in the big leagues, retired in 2004, and now writes a column for the New York Times.

Shane Battier
In a fascinating article from earlier this year, it was revealed that before games the Houston Rockets' coaches give Battier -- and Battier alone -- a thorough statistical breakdown of the opposing players' tendencies. After analyzing the material, the Duke graduate then uses his Vulcan-like mind to figure out ways to force his opponent to the part of the court in which he generally has the least success. Such analytical nerdiness has earned Battier praise as one of the finest defenders in the NBA.

Lew Ford
Ron Gardenhire, Ford's manager when he played for the Minnesota Twins, once saw his outfielder eating dinner with a couple random guys. When Gardenhire inquired who they were, Ford responded that he had met them on the Internet. This worried Gardenhire, and we're not sure if Ford's further clarification that he met them playing "Doom" on the Internet made it any better. Ford, who scored a 1400 on his SATs, left the Twins in 2007 and joined a pro team in the geek-paradise of Japan.

Peyton Manning
He's always looked more Lambda Lambda Lambda brother than football hero, and sometimes during his post-game press conferences Manning sounds like the exasperated science prodigy who is forced to take chemistry class with the regular kids. In fact, after reading this profile of Manning, we think the socially awkward QB might have a touch of Asperger Syndrome, the autism spectrum disorder that has been the focus of much geek fascination/explanation as of late.
Steve Nash
We're not sure if Steve Nash is a geek (and we are sure he isn't an American), but with his dorky dance moves and viral video sensibilities, we think he'd be welcome on the team.