Are we going to talk about that Bears-Eagles game?" Barack Obama said as he came into the tent. "We going to talk about that?"

Well, we could have, but when you are given eight minutes to go one-on-one about sports with a presidential candidate, there's really no time for painful partisanship.

Obama had just finished speaking at a campaign rally in Kensington's Vernon Park at midday yesterday, the third of four stops on a whirlwind tour of Philadelphia neighborhoods.

On a shirtsleeves day in front of a crowd that police estimated at 10,000 within the park and another 5,000 who couldn't wedge their way in, Obama began his speech by asking, "Are there any Phillies fans around here?"

Didn't bring up the Bears game that time.

He did tell the crowd that he is really a Chicago White Sox fan, and got the predictable good-natured boos in return. This is Philly, after all.

"But since the White Sox lost, I'll go ahead and root for the Phillies now," Obama said.

Cynics might note that Pennsylvania is a battleground state in the upcoming election while California, home to the Los Angeles Dodgers, will almost certainly deliver its electoral votes to the Democrats.

And it's also worth noting that identifying with Philadelphia-area voters as a sports guy helps explain why the eight minutes in the tent went to a sportswriter instead of one of those big-time political writers who only get a wave from the tarmac these days.

In the interest of equal time, The Inquirer extended the same invitation - talking sports - to Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who was in town last night to drop the first puck of the Flyers season. That campaign declined the honor.

So it was just me and Barry O'Bomber yesterday in the small tent near the Vernon Park stage. That was his nickname in high school because some other people on the basketball team, including the coach on occasion, thought he might have shot the ball a touch too often.

"I never thought I was taking a bad shot," Obama said. "I thought all of my shots were high-percentage shots."

Playing a long sports season and trying to win a title - which his Hawaii high school state championship team did in 1979 - is similar to mounting a long political campaign and trying to win an election. Obama has more road games than the normal team, but otherwise it's a an analogy the candidate endorses.

"There are going to be rhythms to a season just like there are rhythms to a campaign. There are times when you're hitting on all cylinders and times when nothing you're doing is working," Obama said. "Sportswriters are a lot like political writers. They're good at finding your flaws and advertising them to the entire world."

Obama is playing with a lead right now and it's been suggested that he's trying to run out the clock, doing fewer interviews, limiting those extemporaneous moments that can lead to a gaffe. He says he doesn't play that way, though.

"No, you can't go into four-corners. You keep pressing. You've got to," Obama said. "Because what we've seen during this campaign is momentum swinging quickly. It's like an NBA game. Suddenly, the game could turn around in rapid fashion. So you've got to keep playing hard and playing your game."

When Obama thinks about Philadelphia sports, he thinks about Julius Erving, who was his hero growing up.

"I could never quite get the 'fro and I didn't have his vertical leap, either. But I did have a little finger roll," Obama said. "What I liked was not just what he did on the court, but how he acted off the court. He's a classy guy."

Obama also said he roots for Donovan McNabb, who is from Chicago, and promises to pay close attention to the Sixers once again after they've finished going through "their growing pains, their post-Iverson years."

Sports is the great equalizer in this country, something that people from both sides of the aisle and all sides of the tracks can use as a common language. According to Obama, it's also where some of the best life lessons are learned.

"I did not always understand what it means to play on a team," he said. "I used to get in a lot of arguments with my coach because I had learned on the playground and really wanted to throw behind-the-back passes and take wild shots. He was like Bobby Knight. He wanted chest passes. In retrospect, I realize he was right. We ended up winning the championship and you understand that it's not about you, but about the larger goal."

As a public service to the undecided voters, I proposed to the candidate a series of lightning-round questions that could be used to litmus his integrity and dependability. It's one thing to get his position on foreign oil. It might be more revealing to know what he thinks of the designated hitter.

Here they are. The questions that had to be asked:

Best sports movie ever?

"Hoosiers."

Is a walk as good as a hit?

"Yes."

The DH?

"I'm not really into it."

Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame?

"No, because he bet on baseball. If he had bet on football, I wouldn't care. But you don't bet on your own game."

Wilt or Russell?

"Russell. I've got to say that and it's part of the lesson I learned. When I was a kid I loved Wilt. That was my guy. As I get older, maybe because my game's more like Russell's - I can't score 100 points - I have come to appreciate Russell more."

You also play tennis well. Federer or Nadal?

"Federer. Smooth guy."

Does a good defense always beat a good offense?

"Sometimes a good offense can beat a good defense, but I'll put my money on a good defense every time. You've got to have both, though. Maybe it's because I'm thinking about my Bears and we haven't had an offense for 20 years. If we could just get a quarterback and a guy who could just catch the ball, we might do some damage."

Sure. Now about that Bears-Eagles game.

Time's up.

Contact columnist Bob Ford at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/bobford.