Another hit for Joe as Syracuse star answers call

If you’re knee deep in the Netflix series House of Cards like me and Barack Obama, then you’ll know the office of the Vice President of the United States of America has rarely enjoyed a more glamorous or salacious depiction of its daily agenda.

Fiction is far enough from fact to make the Kevin Spacey portrayal of Frank Underwood the most enjoyable thing about this relentless February. The whole concept offers the right amount of ridiculous and I get an even bigger kick out of how Joe Biden must revel in the absurdly dark representation offered up by the show’s writers.

Biden might be uncomfortably close to finding himself installed as the leader of the free world but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, he’s a hoot. It’s true art the way he lights up a room with his dazzling smile and that tried and tested pointing finger — “I know you! I remember that! Good times!” Which is why in the midst of all this hype and bluster about the new House of Cards series, my favourite image of this past sporting week is that of the real vice president making a phone call to congratulate Tyler Ennis, a young basketball player wearing the orange of Biden’s alma mater, Syracuse University.