Blog:
THE PRESIDENT: Welcome. It's my honor. Thank
you for coming. Please be seated. Welcome to the White House. It's an honor
to recognize the Super Bowl Champs, the New York Football Giants. (Applause.)
I appreciate you all coming. Mr. Vice
President, thank you for joining me up here as we welcome the Giants to the
South Lawn. I want to thank John Mara and his mom, Ann, who's joined us; Steve
Tisch and his mother, Joan; of course, their head football coach, Tom Coughlin,
and his wife, Judy. (Applause.) He got the extension, that's a good thing.
(Laughter.) Makes it a little easier to be standing up here. (Laughter.)
I appreciate all the players who have joined us
today, and the coaches and the personnel that make the club function. I thank
members of my administration who have joined us. I welcome members of the
Congress, Senate, particularly from New Jersey and New York -- (applause) --
state elected officials from New Jersey and New York, it's a good thing to be
here.
I welcome those from Walter Reed who have
joined us today. (Applause.) And of course, welcome to all the Giants fans.
(Applause.) Behave yourself. (Laughter.)
First, it's good to be up here with the Super
Bowl MVP, Eli Manning. We have a few things in common. (Applause.) We got
some things in common. Eli has a father and a brother in the same business he's
in. (Laughter.) Sometimes the press are skeptical. (Laughter.) And he just
survived a big wedding. So I asked him coming in, any advice? He said, I
wasn't father of the bride. (Laughter.)
New York Giants have one of the great storied
histories in pro football. And this club carried on that great tradition. And
perhaps -- many would say this is probably the most exciting chapter ever
written in the New York Giants' football history. After all, you started off
the season and allowed 80 points in the first two games. That would be called a
lousy start. (Laughter.) And then you're playing the Redskins -- it's okay,
you know. (Laughter.) And the game wasn't going very well, as I recall. And
then you rallied, and you won.
A lot of the people that know something about
football said that was the turning point. And the winning streak was
interesting -- six straight games, as I understand, on two different
continents. You also had a great road record. I don't know if the fans
understand this, but you piled up more away-game victories than -- in NFL
history. (Applause.) And the good news is, your fans still loved you at home.
(Laughter.) They really loved you.
You got into the -- you secured a wild card.
And it was interesting, in the last game of the season, a lot of folks thought
the Coach would just kind of lay down and let New England cruise to a perfect
season. (Laughter.) I remember a lot of people speculating about that last
game of the season -- and yet you didn't, Coach. Your team didn't win on the
scoreboard, but you won the hearts of a lot of Americans for contesting the
game. And you also, your team -- (Applause.)
And it clearly gave your team some
self-confidence, because you stormed through Tampa Bay and then went into Dallas
-- I'm a good sport. (Laughter.) We're going to send Jessica Simpson to the
Democrat National Convention. (Laughter.)
Packers was one of the coldest games in NFL
history. You lit up the field like you were on fire. (Applause.) And Lawrence
Tynes, who's with us here, came through with a 47-yard field goal in overtime,
putting you in Super Bowl XLII. (Applause.) You know, I knew you were going to
make it. (Laughter.) I don't know if everybody else did, but I knew you were
going to make it. And you knew you were going to make it.
MR. TYNES: I did.
THE PRESIDENT: And all of a sudden, a 0-and-2
team was about to square off against the 18-and-0 New England Patriots. Now
they've got a lot of experts in our society -- Coach, you might know what I'm
talking about -- and in looking back it's hard to find many of the experts who
predicted a Giant victory. Most people were calling it a cakewalk; you know, be
prepared to turn off your television sets early because this isn't much of a
game you're about to watch -- when, in fact, it turned out to be really one of
the great, legendary football games in our country's history.
First of all, your defense was awesome, Coach
-- (applause) -- and they deserve a lot of credit. And so does your offense.
It was the 83-yard comeback drive in the fourth quarter that a lot of folks will
remember for a long time coming. Eli Manning started one of the great plays
called "The Great Escape" -- it ended on David Tyree's helmet. (Applause and
laughter.) So why don't we take you in the White House, you can show me how you
did it. (Laughter.) And then Plaxico Burress, of course, caught the winning
touchdown with 35 seconds left. (Applause.)
This is a great team that worked together. You
won the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and you won the deep gratitude of the 1972 Miami
Dolphins. (Laughter.)
First of all, you've won the gratitude of your
fans. New York Giants fans love these Giants. (Applause.) And so we
congratulate you all, but we're also congratulating your families, your loved
ones, those who make the locker room work, the trainers, the people who clean up
after you. We want to -- we know you played for some -- ones who lost loved
ones, like the Tyrees and the Maras and the Tisches. I know you loved going
down the Canyon of Heroes for the first ticker-tape parade since before the
attacks of September the 11th, 2001. And I guarantee you there was a lot of New
York firefighters and police who were really thrilled to see you. (Applause.)
I like the fact that this team, the coaches and
players offer free camps for kids. Some of them run life-changing ministries to
raise money for children who have cancer. This is a team that supports the
Ronald McDonald House and the United Way. It promotes family literacy through
Read Across America. It's even helped run a charter school program in
inner-city Newark.
I appreciate the fact, Coach, that you and your
players support our troops, but more importantly our troops appreciate the fact
that you support them. (Applause.) You've come to know the story, like I have,
of Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson. He lost both of his legs while in Iraq. He
first met up with the Giants in September when you invited him to address a
pre-meeting that helped inspire the comeback over the Redskins.
Then you saw him in Tampa, when he was trying
out his legs that he walked on today to be on the stage with you. He was an
honorary captain in Green Bay. He never left the sidelines, despite the
23-below wind chill. In your last team meeting before the Super Bowl,
Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson urged you to have pride in your team and believe
in yourselves, which is exactly what you did.
I'm proud to be on the stage with this man. To
me it's a symbol of your respect for our country and your patriotism, that you
would let Greg Gadson be a part of this team. He has got the Purple Heart and
three Bronze Stars, and now he's got a Super Bowl ring minted for a true giant.
(Applause.)
So while you're still on your feet: The Super
Bowl New York Giants. (Applause.)
COACH COUGHLIN: Thank you, Mr. President, for
those words of inspiration. You did a great job of summarizing our season, and
it's a true privilege for all of us to be here. Thank you for inviting the New
York Giants to the White House.
We were called -- the New York Giants of 2007
were called "the road warriors." Well, we pale in comparison to the real
warriors, the warriors that we visited today at Walter Reed. (Applause.) The
thing that impressed all of us so much was their attitude, their positive
attitude, the look in their eye, their patriotism, their knowledge of what they
were fighting for. And as I always say, we receive great inspiration from our
soldiers, and it's an honor to be with them, and it's an honor to have Greg
Gadson with us in our drive to the Super Bowl Championship XLII. (Applause.)
The world champion New York Giants would like
to present our President with a couple of gifts today. President Bush's father
was President number 41. President Bush is President number 43. And we thought
it only right that the Super Bowl champions of Super Bowl XLII should present
him with this jersey, this championship jersey, to connect 41 and 43.
(Applause.) Amani Toomer is presenting the President with this jersey.
(Applause.)
Thank you, Amani.
We also would like to present the President
with a Super Bowl ball with all the signatures of our championship team. Eli
Manning will present this ball. But Mr. President, when you place -- when you
place this championship ball in your trophy case, and you pass by the ball, we
would ask hopefully that you would reflect on the accomplishments of this great
group of young men -- a group of men who believed in themselves, who refused to
be beaten, and brought really greater honor and glory to the great game of
professional football. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
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