While the Jaxson Dart-Abdul Carter discourse has run wild, Super Bowl champion Joe Theismann was unconcerned about the impact it could have on the locker room.
Dart introduced President Donald Trump before his speech in Suffern, New York, on Friday, and New York Giants teammate Abdul Carter took issue with it. Theismann said that while players in a locker room have different opinions, the focus is on football, and that the Dart-Carter discourse won’t have any effect.
“It doesn’t (have any effect). It’s going to be it’s going to be football. I mean, politics is one thing and sports is another, and we’re starting to see them cross over. People have different opinions of a lot of different things in a locker room,” Theismann told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
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“A locker room is like a giant family. It’s not 53 guys, it’s 80 guys because you’ve got practice squad people, you’ve got people in and out. So, everybody has a lot of different opinions. I think when it comes to football, guys focus on football.”
While Dart and Carter seem to have different political opinions, they appeared to squash any potential rift when Carter posted to X in a since-deleted tweet that they were “good.”
“Me and JD6 are good! We spoke earlier as Men,” Carter wrote. “Y’all can keep y’all narratives.”
Dart, 23, set the stage for Trump’s speech with a chant before welcoming the president onto the stage.
“Big Blue Nation, it’s a pleasure to be here. I got to start this off with a ‘Go Big Blue,’” Dart said, and then led the chant for a few moments before proceeding to introduce Trump.
“What an honor, what a privilege it is to be here, and without further ado, I’m grateful, I’m honored, I’m pleasured to introduce the 45th and 47th president of the United States America, President Donald J. Trump.”
Trump and Dart then shook hands on the stage before the 23-year-old departed.
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Carter began the firestorm by reposting a video of Dart introducing Trump on X and captioning the tweet, “Thought this s— was AI, what we doing man.” He has since deleted the tweet.
The discourse over Carter’s repost of Dart’s appearance with Trump was rampant on social media. Theismann called social media as one of the worst thing to happen to athletics.
“If you like somebody, you like somebody. If you don’t like somebody, you don’t like somebody. Probably the worst thing that’s happened to athletics to a degree is social media. We’ve seen a lot of people just get cooked by it. I think everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but I don’t see it affecting a locker room,” Theismann said.
Theismann played in the NFL for 12 seasons, spending all of them with the then-Washington Redskins. He said that politics were never brought up in the locker room.
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“Never. We talked about family. We talked about football. We talked about the opponent coming up. I can’t ever recall a conversation where we sat down and talked about something in politics. I really can’t. And it was it was sort of a safe haven for I think a lot of us to be able to get away from, you know, especially in Washington, D.C.,” Theismann said.
“You’re in the heartland of all the political elements of life and it was a place where it was safe to go.”
In the locker room, Theismann said you interact with so many different kinds of people who have different opinions on life, yet they never talked about politics. The 1983 MVP winner said that it was a different time then, and people are more sensitive now.
“It was a different time and I think guys are sensitive now. They get caught up in the sensitivity of life and sometimes. It’s nice to sort of take a step back and just let life exist and not get try and get too worked up over it,” Theismann said.
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This will be the 37th American Century Championship, and Joe Theismann has played in 36 of them. He said he used to be a 2-handicap, but is now a nine, as he doesn’t hit the ball as far. He will look to turn back the clock when he plays in the tournament from July 10-12 at Edgewood Golf Course in Lake Tahoe.
He said the American Century Championship is the lone thing that you really want to participate in.
“The American Century Championship has evolved to one of those things that if you love golf at all and you happen to be in that quote-unquote celebrity world, it’s the thing you really want to participate in. You get to measure your game. You get to pull back the curtain on so many wonderful people and you get to see those that you watch on TV because I’m a fan of everything. But now you get a chance to see them up close and personal and you get a chance to meet them and get to know them and it’s exciting,” Theismann said.
The 76-year-old said he gets to visit people on the range. He mentioned Jerry Rice, Tony Romo, and Miles Teller as people he has had conversations with, calling himself a ‘fanboy’ of Teller’s.
Theismann said “Top Gun: Maverick” is his favorite movie of all time.
The tournament has raised more than $8 million for regional and national charities. American Century Investments donates 40% of its profits to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and activates fundraising at the tournament to drive direct donations to Stowers each year. Theismann credited CEO Jonathan Thomas for the tournament’s charitable work.
Theismann credited CEO Jonathan Thomas for the tournament’s charitable work.
The tournament will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
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Super Bowl champion Joe Theismann weighs impact of Jaxson Dart-Abdul Carter Trump controversy on locker room
