Tag: Jill Biden

First Lady Jill Biden to host youth soccer clinic at White House to kick off MLS All-Star week

The event will be part of the league’s All-Star festivities in Washington D.C. next week

First Lady Jill Biden will host a youth soccer clinic on the South Lawn of the White House to kick off MLS All-Star week.

The event will be held on Monday and will feature the First Lady, along with several MLS All-Stars, past MLS greats, league owners, and officials from the Biden-Harris Administration.

Biden will deliver remarks at the event, which will feature MLS All-Stars leading local youth soccer players in skills training stations and scrimmages.

Some of the MLS All-Stars tentatively slated to be in attendance are Christian Benteke, Luciano Acosta, Jordan Morris, Hany Mukhtar and Walker Zimmerman, among others.

Rap stars Yo Gotti and Wale are also tentatively set to attend the event.

The clinic will kick off a series of events in the nation’s capital leading up to Wednesday night’s All-Star Game against Arsenal at Audi Field, the home of D.C. United.

Tuesday night will feature the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, which will see 10 Arsenal players face off against 10 MLS All-Stars in a set of events including a shooting challenge, cross and volley challenge, crossbar challenge and more.

The First Lady and her husband, President Joe Biden, did not play soccer themselves growing up, but many of their children and grandchildren play the sport.

“I never played soccer, but I watched all Beau’s games,” Biden said in 2015 of his late son.

In 2010, Biden, then the vice president, attended the Philadelphia Union’s inaugural home game.

“He was very talkative, like in the staging area before we went out to midfield,” former Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz told Sports Illustrated. “He was very conversational about soccer. He knew the sport was exploding in the U.S. He said he watches the U.S. men and women, and we talked about the women’s national team, because they’re so successful.

“He said how great it was to have an MLS team playing in Chester. He knew all about the stadium, about the redevelopment that we were trying to spark on the riverfront. I was really surprised how knowledgeable he was about the project. He called it the stadium in his backyard.”

Last month, the Bidens starred in the roster reveal video for the U.S. women’s national team’s World Cup squad.

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Saturday Night Live did a very fun impression of LSU’s Angel Reese during Weekend Update

SNL’s Punkie Johnson did a very fun impression of LSU’s Angel Reese on Weekend Update.

The LSU women’s basketball team won a national title on Sunday, and one of its star players found her way to Saturday Night Live to close the week.

Well, it would come via a very fun parody by SNL cast member Punkie Johnson, who portrayed LSU’s Angel Reese during the show’s Weekend Update segment with Michael Che.

Johnson’s take on Reese was in part responding to the White House controversy that sparked from First Lady Jill Biden floating the idea of inviting both LSU and Iowa to the nation’s capital.

Reese initially said she wasn’t interested in going to the White House after Biden made the recommendation but later changed her mind. President Joe Biden actually called Reese and congratulated her on the team’s victory.

Johnson’s skit playing Reese touched on that and the very silly controversy around her taunting Iowa’s Caitlin Clark after LSU defeated Iowa in the 2023 women’s NCAA tournament championship.

The clip contains some NSFW language.

Reese gave Johnson’s impression her endorsement by sharing the video on her Twitter page.

LSU’s White House invitation saga: A complete timeline involving Angel Reese, Kim Mulkey, Jill Biden and more

Here is everything you need to know about LSU’s White House invitation.

The NCAA women’s college basketball tournament was one of the most thrilling competitions in recent memory, and it ended with utter madness.

LSU defeated Iowa, 102-85, in the national championship title game Sunday. Both teams enjoyed very exciting runs during the entirety of the tournament, especially thanks to standout performances from LSU’s Angel Reese, as well as Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

This was one of those tournaments you would want to watch on repeat if you could. But it was LSU who cut down the nets when it was all said and done, becoming national champions for the first time in program history.

But since the Tigers’ title, there’s been some controversy involving them, first lady Dr. Jill Biden and the team’s potential celebratory visit to the White House. Let us explain what happened with a detailed timeline…

LSU’s Angel Reese declines Biden’s White House invitation: ‘We’ll go to the Obamas’

Angel Reese thought it was a “joke” that Iowa also received a White House invitation.

Even though LSU won the women’s college basketball championship, First Lady of the United States Jill Biden thought Iowa should visit the White House as well.

LSU’s Angel Reese, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, tweeted that Biden’s comments were “a joke” as it’s not customary for a losing team to receive such an invitation.

During a recent appearance on a podcast, I AM ATHLETE with Brandon Marshall and Ashley Nicole Moss, Reese expanded on her thoughts.

“If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House,” Reese said. This was another example of the double standard that Reese faced during her tournament run.

The First Lady’s Press Secretary, Vanessa Valdivia, said Biden’s comments were meant to “applaud the historic game and all women’s athletes” and that she looks forward to celebrating LSU’s victory at the White House.

LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey initially said that the team would attend the White House. She has previously visited the White House after championship wins for Baylor in 2005 (visiting with President George W. Bush), 2012 (visiting with President Barack Obama), and 2019 (visiting with President Donald Trump).

Reese, however, posted on Instagram and insisted they aren’t coming. Here is what she said (at the 27-minute mark):

“I don’t accept the apology because you said what you said … You can’t go back on certain things that you say … They can have that spotlight. We’ll go to the Obamas’. We’ll go see Michelle. We’ll see Barack.”

Reese’s teammate, Alexis Morris, posted on Twitter asking if the Obama family would want to host them at their house. Former President Barack Obama tweeted his congratulations to the Tigers.

We will see if Barack and Michelle extend an invitation to Reese and her teammates, but it is also worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first time that LSU declined an invitation from the First Lady.

Reese also indicated that Biden was supposed to come to their locker room before the game, but she said the team said no.

When asked why, she said it was because President Biden “put somebody else” to win the national championship and didn’t have LSU in his bracket. For context: Biden predicted Villanova would win the title and his pre-tournament bracket did not have LSU advancing past the second round.

Biden isn’t exactly known for having impressive predictive skills about the sports world. His incredibly chalky bracket was unfortunately busted by an early Arizona loss not six hours after he published it.

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Angel Reese could not believe Jill Biden’s suggestion that Iowa join LSU at the White House

Should Jill Biden’s idea that Iowa join LSU at the White House actually happen? Angel Reese doesn’t seem to think so.

After attending Sunday’s 2023 women’s NCAA tournament championship, First Lady Jill Biden said on Monday she wants both teams to attend the White House ceremony later this year.

While LSU won this year’s tournament, the first lady said she hopes President Joe Biden will also invite Iowa to attend the eventual celebration at the nation’s capitol.

“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come,” she said, via AP. “But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

It’s never been customary for championship losers to visit the White House alongside the winners. However, the first lady seems interested in amending tradition to honor Iowa women’s basketball and its stellar tournament run behind AP National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark.

Well, LSU star sophomore forward Angel Reese saw the idea and couldn’t take the first lady’s suggestion very seriously.

While the first lady certainly means well with her suggestion, the whole point of winning a championship is getting to celebrate the exclusivity of being a champion.

We’ll see if this actually happens, but Iowa attending the White House ceremony would make much more sense if they had, y’know, actually won.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden joins cancer survivors to sing ‘Fly Eagles Fly’

First Lady Jill Biden took part in singing ‘Fly Eagles Fly’ with cancer survivors

One of the more stirring moments in Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game had nothing to do with the game.

First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden joined cancer survivors in “Fly Eagles Fly,” the team’s fight song.

Well done by all involved.

Dr. Biden also was able to chat with 76ers center Joel Embiid.