Tide football team set to visit White House

Mar 2, 2010 - 9:05 PM TUSCALOOSA, Ala.(AP) -- The national champion Alabama football team's visit to the White House is set.

The Crimson Tide will leave Monday morning for Washington, D.C. The team will spend time with area youth as part of a service project during the visit and then meet President Obama.

The Tide is also scheduled to make stops at the U.S. Capitol, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and National Mall during its day in the nation's capitol.

Obama called Nick Saban on the morning after the Tide's win over Texas. A spokesman for the coach says he invited the president to play in the staff's lunchtime basketball games in the spring.

Saban famously turned down an invitation to dine with President Bush in 2006 when he was with the Miami Dolphins.