AP Photo/Tony GutierrezTalk about your unexpected March Madness matchups!
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush sat side by side last night at the NCAA men's basketball final at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, a relative home game for George and Laura Bush, who live in Dallas.
The 42nd and 43rd POTUS were all smiles as they watched the University of Connecticut top the University of Kentucky, 60-54, making the No. 7 Huskies the second-lowest seed to ever win the championship since the current ranking system was implemented.
Maybe because no personal allegiances were at stake, no Georgetown or Yale, the ex-commanders in chief were better able to just kick back and enjoy themselves. But they look so at ease with each other...
Maybe Congress should start meeting at sporting events.
Clinton and George and Laura Bush were enjoying prime seats next to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Cowboys teammates Tony Romo and Jason Witten. (And that's about as VIP as it gets in that region of the sporting world.)
But while smiley pics of former presidents on opposite side of the politial spectrum don't make the rounds every day (unfortunately), Clinton and Bush have enjoyed an amiable relationship since the latter left office, and Clinton is pals with W.'s father, George H.W. Bush.
"Bill visits us every summer. We don't agree politically, but we don't talk politics," former first lady Barbara Bush told CSPAN last year.
Recalling when he first met the elder Bush, Clinton said in a Fox News special that aired in February, "I had my daughter, who was then 3 years old, and I walked up to the vice president and I said, ‘Mr. Vice President, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Chelsea.'
"He reached over and shook her hand, and she looked at him and said, ‘Where's the bathroom?' And he took her by the hand and took her to the bathroom, and introduced my daughter to his mother, who was then still living. That's the kind of man he is. He's kind and he treats everybody with genuine respect, and he's interesting."
And Clinton's even up for hanging out with Bush 41's son every once in a while. Maybe George W. will even paint Clinton one of these days!