It does boggle my mind at times what constitutes something newsworthy in the ever-complicated and fragmented world of sports. Take for example what rose to the top of THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER’s coverage of a crucial international soccer match from last night:
Christian Pulisic, the captain and star player for the U.S. men’s national soccer team, was the latest athlete to break out the phenomenon known as the “Trump dance” in celebration after scoring a goal in Monday’s 4-2 victory over Jamaica in the quarterfinals of the 2024-2025 Concacaf Nations League. It was an important victory for the team as it allowed them to advance to the semifinals.
The big story was arguably Pulisic’s dance celebration, as he became the latest athlete to partake in the dance craze sweeping the nation. Trump performed the now-famous dance at his rallies, most recently to the song “YMCA” by the Village People.
NEWSWEEK’s Billie Schwab Dunn was quick to note in a piece she authored this morning that Pulisic isn’t alone in his emulation of the rhythms of an obese 78-year-old who keeps AVE MARIA high up on his IPad playlist:
(S)everal sports stars busted out the move to celebrate big plays and here, Newsweek has rounded them up:
Nick Bosa
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa celebrated a sack, which is when a defensive player tackles the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage before they can throw a pass, with teammates in a game at Tampa Bay on November 10.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, when Bosa was asked what inspired the dance, he said: “I think you know the answer to that question. All the guys wanted me to do it. I wasn’t even going to do it, but the boys reminded me. And it was fun.”
Brock Bowers
On Sunday, Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers moved his arms and hips like Trump to celebrate a touchdown for Las Vegas in a 34-19 loss at Miami.
“Brock Bowers did the Donald Trump dance after scoring a TD,” NFL Insider Ari Meirov posted to his X account @MySportsUpdate. At the time of writing, it had been viewed 10.8 million times.
After the game, Bowers told USA Today: “I’ve seen everyone do it. I watched the UFC fight [Saturday] night and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC so I saw it, and thought it was cool.”
Jon Jones
Jon Jones performed the “Trump Dance” to salute his victory over Stipe Miocic at Saturday night’s UFC fight in Madison Square Garden in New York City. He then shook hands with the president-elect and handed him his UFC title belt while the crowd chanted, “USA!”
And during Sunday’s other NFL games, even lesser lights like the Tennessee Titans’ Calvin Ridley and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, as well as Detroit Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith and linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, busted that move which has been derided by the likes of Bill Maher and John Stafford as When I’m Jerking Off 2 Guys At The Same Time.
Not that those gentlemen, or certainly I, would actually make such an accusation to any of these gentlemen’s faces. As I know no one chose to when we saw demonstrations of a different kind by the likes of Colin Kaepernick or the numerous NBA players that demanded on-court and jersey signage to express their views in order to provide the NBA with some sort of closure to the 2019-20 season in the challenging Orlando bubble.
And certainly nothing like what the EXAMINER team asserts is the difference between soccer stars:
Pulisic’s rendition could be considered the most noteworthy given that he did Trump’s dance as a member of the U.S. men’s national team, which would be a stark contrast to the president-elect’s connection to Pulisic’s female counterparts, the U.S. women’s national team, particularly retired player Megan Rapinoe. The athlete-turned-left-wing-activist began her feud with Trump when she refused to participate in the tradition of visiting the president in the White House after the women’s team won the World Cup in 2019.
With the possible exception of Bosa, I’m not so sure there’s even a political agenda among most of those getting on this “bandwagon”. The sad but true fact is that by aggressively pursuing a strategy to get on the good side of young men who consider themselves “bros”, by agreeing to sit down with Joe Rogan for a podcast interview that has now exceeded 40 million views while his opponent chose the niche audience of Alex Morgan for a chat that barely exceeded 1 million, and by showing up in person at college football and MMA events, not to mention blanketing the broadcasts of those events with targeted advertising that proved to be significantly influential in garnering their votes, Trump has inexplicably emerged as a cultural touchpoint for this demographic sector–which the majority of professional male athletes fall into.
And if they don’t really care how foolish and cringe-worthy they appear in emulating such a ridiculously out-of-step septugenarian who could barely walk up a flight of stairs, why should you and I?
While I was not against how those who felt the need to plaster BLM support were, it didn’t impact my desire to watch basketball at a time when any distraction of any kind was critical to my mental health. And I couldn’t care less who or what Jones supports, as he at least put on a competitive combat sports exhibition over the weekend, unlike those who fought the night before in Dallas.
We shouldn’t have what’s left of publications like NEWSWEEK making lists of bros choosing to create memes that are calling more attention to them than they otherwise might be getting on their athletic exploits themselves. If there’s any solace to be taken from those who are appalled by this, one should note that the 49ers and Titans are both among the bottom-feeders in their respective NFL conferences.
Unlike someone like Laura Ingraham, I’m not gonna tell them to “shut up and dribble”, or something to that effect. It’s their lives; it’s their reputations, and, frankly, they’ve got the numbers on their side at the moment.
The less attention we pay to all of this, one way or another, the more likely we will be able to let sports provide the kind of necessary diversion it will likely play in the challenging months ahead. Just like it did when most of you were in lockdown and doom-scrolling.
Courage…