New York Times
Yet Joltin’ Joe has also become a fascinating Off Broadway spectacle in his own right. He is a distinctive blend of pit bull and odd duck whose weak filters make him capable of blurting out pretty much anything — “gaffes,” out-of-nowhere comments (pivoting midspeech to say “Excuse my back!” to people seated behind him), goofy asides (tapping a reporter’s chest and telling him, “You need to work on your pecs.”)
Washington Post
But Biden loves to chat. As he toured the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, here today, two executives of the Hall talked to him about their favorite players. Biden declared at different times his love for the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers and the Colts, at least before they moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis.
Then, as he was discussing how much bigger football players are than they used to be, he approached two reporters who were standing nearby taking notes.
“You look liked you played some, man,” he said to one of the reporters.
As the reporter said “no, I didn’t,” the candidate moved closer, tapped the reporter’s upper chest and said “you need to work on your pecs.” The reporters laughed.
Biden then started talking about how he stayed up late to watch the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game on Monday night, even though he had to do a bunch of interviews the next day on morning news shows.
“So I said, ‘I’ve got a big day tomorrow,’ I said, ‘I’ve got to go to sleep.’ I got in the room, started searching the channels and they were replaying the Eagles game and I watched the whole damn game,” he said. “I don’t know what time it was, 2 o’clock in the morning. I’m bleary-eyed and thinking where the heck’s my speech.”
ABC News
Although Biden said he was a Steelers fan in a meeting with the team’s coach Mike Tomlin on Aug. 29, he later said in a Sept. 8 visit to a Green Bay bar outside of Lambeau Field that he’d been a Packers fan since grade school.
Today, he added three more favorites to the list — the Eagles, the Colts and the Giants.
As he looked at the jersey of former Philadelphia Eagle Reggie White, Horrigan said he had heard Biden was an Eagles fan.
Biden said yes, adding, “I used to be a Colts fan before they moved to Baltimore.”
The loquacious Blue Hen said he stayed up late to watch the Monday night football game between the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys.
“My wife is a die-hard Eagles fan, so we watch every Eagles game,” Biden said. “Matter of fact, I was really tired Tuesday morning.
“I got up at five and started my first interviews at 6:40,” said Biden, who appeared on four network TV morning shows that day. “So, I said, ‘I’ve got a big day tomorrow,’ I said, ‘I’ve got to go to sleep,’ I got in the room, started searching the channels and they were replaying the Eagles game and I watched the whole damn game, I don’t know what time it was, two o’clock in the morning. I’m bleary-eyed and thinking, ‘Where the heck’s my speech?'”
But Biden then whispered, “I’m not allowed to say this, but I also like the Giants.”
“Seriously, how many guys in the NFL today are over 300 pounds, run the 40 like guys who used to weigh 210 pounds?” Biden asked. “It’s amazing! Jeez! God Almighty.”
Biden approached the print pool reporter, Perry Bacon of the Washington Post.
“You look like you played some, man,” Biden said.
“No,” said Bacon, “I didn’t.”
Biden moved closer, tapped Bacon’s upper chest and said, “you need to work on your pecs.”
Magnolia Tribune
