Rutgers Alums Lead Patriots Members Who Boycotted Team's Visit to Trump's White House

Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall's Flick page - Tom Brady: https://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/6566852021/in/photolist-b1hQjz-6TGQLf-6TCNjt-6TCQrP-ihYLBr-6TGXaY-91St2X-6TDcjM-6TD38p-quibTs-6THKxb-hGKoPh-gQnQcg-96MbC5-8B3HqL-rgz3YD-qz5ZLN-hGKoHf-qvEoAs-7owYgn-fMLkYm-6TCSWz-nV7bPa-hGJxK6-7oARWy-5xv7E5-qLF6bB-biYQPX-6TCSbe-gNTTwc-gNTYva-gNSie6-6TCHwa-6TCyUV-bh4Lxt-6TDfuD-6THpgu-6TCDMV-6TGXxA-6TD1CM-6TCUtk-gnh4wB-6TD6SD-aEwQeH-6TCK44-6TGXnQ-6THdRE-6THzA5-ihZDW8-6THiE5

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New England Patriots

This is a story that I meant to write about a few weeks ago, closer to when this story actually happened, of course.

But it has been a busy month, and between working a lot of extra hours, as well as falling sick and feeling exhausted, I just never quite got around to it.

Today, I will try to remedy that, once and for all.

A few weeks ago, the New England Patriots went to the White House to commemorate their Super Bowl LI championship.

That usually is noteworthy itself, except that what made as many headlines on this day were just how many members of the Patriots did not attend. It made me especially proud to learn that all four Rutgers alumni on the New England Patriots Super Bowl championship team refused to attend, including some of the highest profile names notably missing.

It was well known already that six notable Patriots players refused to attend, something that I wrote about before. They did not make a secret as to why they were boycotting, for that matter. They were not attending because this president is not a unifier, but rather, someone who polarizes the country with his hatred and his arrogance. 

For reasons not fully known, star quarterback Tom Brady was among those not in attendance, although he sited "personal family matters."

All in all, 34 Patriots players were in attendance, which is clearly nowhere near all of the players. 

However, the ceremonies did go on, and Trump predictably made indirect comparisons to how many pundits counted him out during the race, and those pundits who surely thought the Super Bowl was over when Atlanta took a 28-3 lead. It should be noted that Trump himself left his own Super Bowl party shortly after the Falcons took a 28-3 lead, which sure would seem to suggest that he, too, thought the game was over. No mention of that by the president on this day, however.

The visit to the White House by the 2016 New England Patriots came on the very day that former Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, a convicted murderer, took his own life by hanging in a jail cell. Some had speculated that the Patriots should cancel the visit, or at least postpone it, in the light of that event. It seemed to overshadow the whole thing. Still, the Patriots went through with it, and that means that, to some, the two events - one intended to be a glorious celebration of a remarkable achievement, while the other unbelievably tragic - will be linked together in history.

Here is the link to the article which I got the information used in this blog entry:

4 Rutgers alums lead no-shows as Patriots visit Donald Trump's White House

http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/04/devin_mccourty_leads_no_shows_as_patriots_visit_tr.html