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President Obama Says He's Rooting For the Jets
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 22, 2011
Modified Jan 22, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 22, 2011
Modified Jan 22, 2011
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Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced their wager on Sunday's AFC Championship game between the Jets and Steelers, while doubters threw some haterade on the Jets parade. But Bloomberg and Jets fans weren't the only ones rallying for the team—the President is rooting for the team. “I will say both the Jets and the Bears, I think, are slight underdogs, so we’re going to be rooting for the underdogs on Sunday,” Obama said yesterday while speaking to workers at the GE plant in Schenectady.
Obama was there to talk economy, and appointed GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt as a White House economic adviser. Obama may be hiding under the "underdog" thing, but he has lived in both New York and Chicago, so maybe it's a tiny bit more personal than he cares to admit. But even though he said he'd be rooting for the team, Obama isn't quite ready to start wearing green: “Gov. Cuomo -- who is going to be an outstanding governor -- he tried to give me a Jets hat. I had to refuse it. I had Secret Service confiscate it."
But the Jets have other supporters ready and willing to step up: Rex Ryan's father, legendary NFL coach Buddy Ryan, is so confident in the team, he's already made his reservations for a trip to Dallas to watch Super Bowl XLV in person. Players were feeling that confidence too: safety James Ihedigbo told the Post his message for fans is, “Stock the refrigerator full of champagne and get ready to celebrate." Rex Ryan just wants to kick some Steeler butt: "They've had six Super Bowl trophies. If they want to put them on the field, we will play them, too...We know what's at stake. We want the [AFC championship] T-shirt, we want the hat and we want the trophy. So I don't know what else I need to say."
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football
jets
nfl
president obama
Rex Ryan
steelers
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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