President Obama (begrudgingly) welcomed the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers to the White House South Lawn on Friday afternoon to congratulate the team and its fans for winning it all last season.
“You guys are coming to my house to rub it in,” said the president, a lifelong Chicago Bears fan. “What are you going to do, go to Ditka’s house next?”
After Charles Woodson presented Obama with an honorary share of Packers stock, the president tried to make a personnel move.
“If I’m a part owner, what I’m thinking is we should initiate a trade to send Rodgers down to the Bears. What do you think?”
Somewhere, Jay Cutler is crying.
But Packers fans are happy, really happy. I must admit, I did not plan to watch any of the ceremony because these types of things tend to be somewhat corny. I ended up having some free time just as the ceremony started so I tuned in.
I’m glad I did. It was a proud moment for the Packers and their fans. Obama (and his speech writers) also deserve a lot of credit for giving the ceremony an authentic feeling with the quips about the Bears and Packers rivalry, and for playing up the president’s heartache after the NFC championship game.
It was also nice to celebrate the Super Bowl win one last time. Now that the ring ceremony and presidential visit are out of the way, it’s time to focus on 2011. Hopefully the Packers return to the South Lawn sometime next year.
Update: Our friends over at CheeseheadTV.com have video of the ceremony.
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Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
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It was also good to see Mark Tauscher in attendance, I’m not sure he was up on the stage with Obama, but he was definitely there (He’s in a photo posted on the Packers facebook page). Thank god the Packers proved again they are a classy organization.
I’m mad they gave him an Honorary Share of the team.. What’s he gonna do with it? Should have given it to me instead…
The guy’s an effin Bear Fan! Give him a kick in the …..
Oh, did you hear Bishop left his ID behind and was not allowed to join the team for the show. Not to worry you didn’t miss anything Des.
Bishop probably wanted to go hang out with the tea party anyway.
Good very good!