Just when I thought Sarge Matthews couldn’t possibly get any cooler…

It appears as though the greatest color commentator in broadcasting is all buddy-buddy with none other than the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.  And not like “Yeah, I met him once.”-type acquaintances either; more like “Hey Sarge, why don’t tag along with me on the pre-inauguration train ride from Philadelphia to Washington?”-cronies.

As the story goes, Sarge and Barack met each other when their daughters were attending the same dance class together in Chicago.  From there, the two became friendly and started scheduling golf outings and family cookouts.

For some odd reason, the monthly Atlanta Braves publication, Chop Talk, has more details:

“I’m not one of the guys you see playing basketball with him, but I do get invited to certain things.”

Some of the “things” Sarge is modestly referring to are the aforementioned train ride, a private tour of the White House with Barack, and a seat right next to the podium as he was getting sworn in.  Not too shabby.

“It was totally emotional to be part of history,” said Matthews, “you look out and see so many people. It was special to be part of something great like that. There are no words to describe it.”

Just in case you were wondering, Sarge was talking about the inauguration there, not the World Series parade.  But if you add up the two, they equal out to one heck of a year for the ex-Phillie:

“I’ve had a heck of a year,” Matthews said. [Ed. Note: Told you.] “This came at a perfect time for me. To be able to live through it again after playing in ‘83 and beating the Dodgers, for these guys to come out and take it another step further, it was really a tearful moment. I almost kind of felt the way I thought I would had I been a player.”

It must be humbling for the President to know he has at least one friend who is waaay cooler than he could ever be.

Matthews’ presidential pal | ChopTalk

UPDATE: Courtesy of eagle-eyed commenter SJ, we now have proof of Sarge’s inauguration presence.

Click to enlarge.

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