Pats Honored in White House Ceremony
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, April 02–One day after they threw out the first pitches at the Red Sox season opener, the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots traveled to the nation’s capital for an even greater honor: a presidential reception.
“This is what it’s all about,” strong safety Lawyer Milloy said. “When I dreamed about winning the Lombardi Trophy [which goes to the Super Bowl champion], I knew I would have a chance to meet the President.”
In a half-hour ceremony in the White House’s Rose Garden, President George W. Bush likened the Patriots’ win to his own presidential victory, saying that both he and the team started out as underdogs.
“I can remember when they were down on you a bit-I know how you feel,” he said, standing on a podium next to the Lombardi Trophy. The Patriots, he said, “learned what I learned, that in politics and sports, the experts are often wrong.”
Bush praised the team’s character, saying he was impressed by the way the Patriot players, before their improbable 20-17 Super Bowl victory over the St. Louis Rams, took the field together instead of coming out individually as each was announced..
“I thought that was a pretty clear signal to America that teamwork is important; that the individual matters to the team and that the team is bigger than the individual,” he said.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who presented Bush with a team jersey and made him an honorary team captain, said he felt the team represented “in a very humble wayáwhat the President’s inspirational leadershipáhas meant to our country.”
“We’re a team of underdogs, we’re red, white and blue, we put team first, but most of all, in the end, we’re winners,” he said.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick then presented the President with an autographed ball from the Super Bowl. He later joked that it was a personal “thrill” to “be up there with another Andover grad,” even though Bush was “more of a baseball guy.”
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass, who attended the ceremony with U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords, D-Vt., said he hopes to be back in the Rose Garden after the World Series.
“The Red Sox have picked up the mantle of the Patriots in presenting themselves as a team,” he said.
Kennedy said he hadn’t bet on the game with the President, but offered to wager him on Dallas “any time he wants.”
The players, for their part, seemed as excited as kids to meet the president. Many of them brought automatic cameras for photos with the president, and several had video cameras as well.
“This is one of the perks that comes with winning the Super Bowl,” said wide receiver Troy Brown. “I could get used to this.”
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
