President Donald Trump handled the coin toss at Saturday's 120th Army-Navy game, receiving a generally positive reaction from the crowd.
President Donald Trump handled the coin toss at Saturday's 120th Army-Navy game, receiving mostly cheers from the Lincoln Financial Field crowd.
Navy won the toss and deferred until the second half.
The president also visited both locker rooms prior to kickoff,
signing an executive order allowing athletes at the nation’s military academies to play professional sports after they graduate, and delay their active-duty service.According to the Associated Press, allowing athletes to delay service has been a hotly debated issue. The Obama administration previously put a policy in place allowing some athletes to go to the pros and defer their military service.
That policy allowed Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds to be drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2016 draft after completing a four-year run with the Midshipmen.
But the year after he went pro, the Defense Department rescinded the policy.
Trump attended the famed Army-Navy rivalry game for the second year in a row, and third time in the last four years after also attending the game in 2016 as president-elect. He is the 10th commander in chief to attend the contest.
He is reportedly expected to leave Saturday's game during the third quarter.
The rivalry football game is the fourth sporting event Trump has attended in the past two months. In late November, Trump was greeted with loud cheers from the crowd at Bryant-Denny Stadium during the game between LSU and Alabama on Saturday afternoon.
He received a loud chorus of boos from the crowd at Game 5 of the World Series between the Nationals and Astros on Oct. 27. Fans in attendance loudly yelled "lock him up," a chant Trump supporters began in 2016 that was directed at his opponent and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Six days later, Trump visited UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden in New York and became the first president to attend an MMA event. He was met with a mixed reaction of cheers and boos from the crowd, and one fan even held up a Trump 2020 flag.
Army (5-7) entered Saturday's contest on a three-game win streak, while No. 23 Navy (9-2) looked to win its 10th game for the first time since 2015.
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