Jimmy Buffett, the music superstar who died on Sept. 1 at age 76, wasn’t just the Margaritaville singer whose chill songs and outlook on life reminded everyone to sit back and relax.
He was a diehard sports fan.
As many people remember, Buffett was ejected from a game between his beloved Miami Heat and the New York Knicks in 2001. He had apparently used profanity at referee Joe Forte, who told him to get out.
Then-Heat coach Pat Riley defended Buffett at the time, telling Forte — per ABC News — “Do you know who that is? I said, ‘Do you mean to tell me you’ve never been a Parrothead in your life?’ So that tells you where our officials are coming from.”
“He thought I was insulting him, Riley added. He wanted to give me a technical for calling him a Parrothead.”
According to AL.com, he was a New Orleans Saints fan who was there for their 2010 NFC title game win over the Minnesota Vikings:
All those years later, he was in the Saints’ celebratory locker room inside the Superdome after New Orleans won the 2010 NFC championship game in overtime against Minnesota and Brett Favre. As the story goes, Buffett flew from Bora Bora to New Orleans for the game, but not before his personal jet needed repairs for a flat tire.
Buffett later called Tracy Porter’s pick-six to seal the Super Bowl championship against the Colts the greatest sports moment of his lifetime.
There was also this reaction to the infamous non-call in 2019 on the Rams’ Nickell Robey-Coleman that cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl:
And don’t forget his various national anthems at sporting events: