Chris Christie Lampooned as Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader
The enmity against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for daring to root for the rival Dallas Cowboys has reached new lows, with the state’s newspapers lampooning him as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. The Trentonian put this on its Friday cover:
This follows Star-Ledger cartoonist Drew Sheneman‘s “Christie Does Dallas” parody earlier in the week:
Sheneman’s logic is amusing:
I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan. It’s not something I chose, because who would. My fandom is the unfortunate side effect of my parentage and the geography of my birth. I’m from Philadelphia and my dad is an Eagles fan. There is no way out. It’s hereditary…like heart disease.
I’ve lived in North Jersey for the past 30 years, I could justify rooting for the Giants. I would love to root for the Giants! They won two super bowls in the last 10 years and the Eagle’s starting quarterback for the majority of the past season was ‘Butt Fumble’.
If I could pick the team I root for my life would be easier, my blood pressure would be lower and I wouldn’t feel like my dog died after watching Dallas move to the second round of the playoffs on the back of the worst blown since the dawn of the industrial age.
But alas, I cannot. I was born an Eagles fan and I will die an Eagles fan, probably earlier than I should.
That’s why it always mystifies me when someone, like our esteemed Governor, feels justified in picking a team to which they have no familial or geographical association. This is football, not Chipotle. YOU DON’T GET TO CHOOSE! You root for the team you were born with, not the one with the coolest helmets! Your team is something inflicted upon you, not chosen on a whim. Your team is something to be endured, lamented and occasionally, if you’re lucky or a Patriots fan, celebrated.
Christie disagrees. Back in 2013, when the Cowboys were awful and the Giants were still basking in two recent Super Bowl wins, he explained:
“I was a big fan of Roger Staubach, who was the quarterback for the Cowboys back then. The Giants and the Jets pretty much stunk when I was a kid and my father was a Giants fan. I used to remember watching him when I was eight, nine years old and every Sunday he would watch the Giants and yell at the TV set. I used to think to myself, ‘Why would I want to root for a team that makes you angry?'”
Having likewise been a Cowboys fan going back to Staubach days—I had spent almost all of my life in either Texas or Germany at that point—I’d note that Christie’s childhood strategy had limited shelf life. Certainly, there’s been lots of cause for anger during the Jerry Jones era.
Having grown up in New Jersey at roughly the same time as Christie, albeit several years behind him, I can attest that Christie has it largely right. At the time it seemed as though the fandom was divided between Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw, the two hot QBs of the day. The Giants had been in a drought since the late 60s by the time I was starting to pay attention to the NFL, and the Jets hot streak ended when Joe Namath retired if not when the final whistle blew at the end of Super Bowl III. It didn’t help that both teams seemed to move their home stadium every couple years until the stadium in East Rutherford opened in 1976, either. One season, the Giants played their home games in the Yale Bowl, for example. It really wasn’t until Bill Parcells came along in 1979 that the Giants turned themselves around (the Jets, well, the less said there the better).
Also, the Eagles were, and still are a south Jersey team. Nobody from Northern or Central Jersey roots for them.
I was a Giants fan from junior high until 1997, when John Elway redeemed over a decade of failure to finally win a Super Bowl and cement his legacy as the best quarterback EVAH. (Staubach? Bradshaw? Pfffft. El-way! El-way! El-way! Yes, we’re chanting now.)
At any rate, I understand why football loyalties inspire the Christie lampooning, but really….what was ridiculous about his Jerry Jones’s luxury box weekend was the goofy look on his face as he was jumping around. I’m sure he was just caught up in the moment, but I detected something a little fake, a little… I dunno, “giddy as a school boy” pretty much covers it.
Doesn’t look like his weight loss surgery has helped his public image much.
The Republican economic agenda is failing in Joisey.
This is probably a welcome distraction for the fat man.
You think that is reaching a “new low” James? Really? In Jersey??? You don’t get out much do you? 😉
Of course Christie’s attendance in the Dallas owner’s box is looked at from this angle only.
Because (a) the conflict of interest in Christie accepting tens of thousands in gifts (in the form of tickets and airfare for himself and his security detail) from Jerry Jones, who has business before state agencies; and
(b)the pattern of Christie being willing to prostrate himself as a fanboy for his idols (far worse being his stalking of Bruce Springsteen) says so much about his character
can’t ever be critically examined here.
I’m a Lions’ fan, but I don’t know why.
Ryan trolls Christie…
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/11/7528849/paul-ryan-chris-christie
Christie SHOULD be lampooned for spending most of the last 6 months campaigning for Republican candidates, or so it seems. His tenure as Governor is nothing to brag about, either.
What has he accomplished as Governor and how much more COULD he have done if he had stayed home and done the job he is being overpaid to do?
Go Hawks!
I will vote for the first candidate to say that football is unimportant and has no favorite team. Pluses if this candidate dislikes hunting, speaks a second language, and is bald.
I just realized that I described myself.
@Doug Mataconis: true, we all grow up and realize where we’re from- well some of us do. the giants sucked when i was a kid, i liked the vikings as they had an ex- giant at least. i’m giants/yanks now, have been for the past 30 yrs and raised my kids to be as well- even though they’re all native Texans.