Miami football legend Reggie Wayne tweets about Raptors White House visit
Shortly after the Toronto Raptors won their first NBA Championship on Thursday night Miami football legend Reggie Wayne asked his Twitter followers if they would have a White House visit to celebrate.
Reggie Wayne visited the White House in 2007 with his Indianapolis Colts teammates following their victory in SuperBowl XLI over another former Miami football legend Devin Hester and the Chicago Bears. Visiting the White House has become controversial in recent years with the current administration.
The Golden State Warriors who the Raptors defeated four games to two in the 2019 NBA Finals chose not to visit the White House after winning their third NBA Championship in four seasons in 2018. Several members of Boston Red Sox chose not to visit the White House this year after their World Series victory last fall.
A precedent has been set with Canadian based teams in Big Three North American Sports (not counting the NFL which does not have a Canadian based team) to visit the White House. The Toronto Blue Jays visited George H.W. Bush in 1992 following their World Series victory.
The Blue Jays did not visit the White House following their 1993 repeat. The Montreal Canadiens won the 1993 Stanley Cup and like the Blue Jays did not visit the White House. Toronto FC won the 2017 Major League Soccer Cup but did not visit the White House. Several past MLS Cup champions made White House visits.
Serious Question.... So do the Toronto Raptors go to the White House or do they go to the Canada White House?
— Reggie Wayne (@ReggieWayne_17) June 14, 2019
Wayne asked some high profiled sources in a follow-up tweet to his own question if they knew whether or not the Raptors would visit the White House.
@NBA @NBAonTNT @NBATV @ESPNNBA
— Reggie Wayne (@ReggieWayne_17) June 14, 2019
Wayne’s stated question being serious inspired some not so serious responses. Others provided commentary on the lack of respect some recent champions visiting the White House have received. The best response commented on the choice of food that was served to college football national champion Clemson.
depends if they want cold junk food or to be treated with respect and celebrated properly. #NBAFinals
— eqnyc (@eatquestnyc) June 14, 2019
At this point, no one really knows if the Raptors will visit the White House or not.
In their five College Football National Championship seasons, the Miami football team visited the White House.
When the 1987 National Champions visited the White House, President Ronald Reagan joked hs confused his staff by saying the Hurricanes were visiting the White House. One of Reagan’s most iconic roles was playing Notre Dame football legend George Gipp in his days as an actor before going into politics.
Eleven players on the Raptors roster are American. Raptors star and NBA Finals MVP
is from Riverside, California. Point guard
who is the longest tenured Raptors is from Philadelphia. Backup power forward
who is a native of St. Lucia is the only Canadian on the Raptors roster.
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Boucher moved with his mother to Montreal when he was five months old and grew up there. The 6-10 Boucher played collegiately at Oregon. Boucher made his NBA debut with Golden State in 2017-18 and received a championship ring.