President Biden hosted the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics on the White Home on Thursday, however he was both not fully positive of that or making a joke.
Whereas saying the crew’s newest championship, Biden turned to the crew to ensure they have been known as the Celtics.
“You are the Celtics, proper?” Biden requested the gamers throughout a second in his deal with. The remark was met with mild however reserved chuckles from some within the crowd.
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Biden additionally joked that he did not know the place the gamers got here from.
“They simply confirmed up. I don’t know the place the hell they got here from,” Biden mentioned.
Later within the speech, Biden appeared to disclose his Secret Service code identify. “Celtic” has been Biden’s code identify all through his presidency and even relationship again to his vice presidency underneath President Obama, in line with Britannica.
“All of you could not know this, however my Secret Service identify is ‘Celtic.’ For actual, as a result of I’m Irish,” Biden mentioned. “All people behind me is Irish of their coronary heart. I really feel a particular satisfaction on this trophy for this previous Irish Celtic. To all you Celtics, congratulations.”
Biden concluded his speech by mentioning that John F. Kennedy was the primary president to host an NBA champion when the Celtics visited in 1963.
“A part of that great custom, celebrating the ability of sports activities to carry individuals collectively. It’s a practice that I’ve had the distinction to proceed. Regardless of the game. What these champions all have in widespread are core values. … Exhausting work, teamwork, respect and the data that no certainly one of us is ever pretty much as good as all of us will be once we’re collectively,” he mentioned.
After Biden’s speech, he acquired a customized Celtics jersey and took a basketball with him as he walked down the steps. He dribbled the ball and even made a number of passes to attendees within the crowd.
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The 2023-24 Celtics roster, teaching employees and possession group have been available on the South Garden for Thursday’s occasion.
The 2023 champion Denver Nuggets didn’t attend a Biden White Home go to, reportedly because of “scheduling points,” the crew beforehand advised The Denver Publish.
Previous to Thursday, the final NBA champion to go to Biden’s White Home was the 2021-2022 Golden State Warriors. These Warriors visited in late January 2023. The Celtics’ White Home go to was scheduled for November. By late January of subsequent 12 months, Trump shall be in workplace.
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Not a single NBA champion attended the Trump White Home when he was in workplace. Nonetheless, the one two groups to win the title underneath Trump previous to the COVID-19 pandemic have been the Warriors, who Trump didn’t invite, and the Toronto Raptors, who’re primarily based in Canada.
Trump infamously declined to ask a number of main girls’s basketball championship groups to the White Home throughout his first time period, together with each WNBA champion.
The one time Trump’s White Home hosted a girls’s basketball crew was the 2019 nationwide champion Baylor Bears, led by former head coach Kim Mulkey.
The one two NFL groups to get invites to Trump’s White Home throughout his first time period have been the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots accepted each invites in 2017 and 2019. The Eagles’ go to was canceled, and the crew launched an announcement saying it was in relation to Trump’s stance on gamers standing for the nationwide anthem.
Throughout Trump’s first time period, and even throughout his current marketing campaign, school soccer has been the game to embrace him probably the most within the U.S. His appearances at video games, together with a number of Military-Navy video games throughout his first time period and a Georgia-Alabama recreation in September, have been met with rousing applause.
No school soccer nationwide champion skipped a White Home go to throughout Trump’s first time period. Georgia skipped a go to to President Biden’s White Home in 2023.
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