National Football League

Wisconsin's Walker won't join Christie's Cowboys love

Published Jan. 7, 2015 2:42 a.m. ET

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker would be happy to see his potential 2016 presidential rival New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at Lambeau Field on Sunday when the Green Bay Packers take on the Dallas Cowboys.

But don't look for Walker to join Christie in cheering for the Cowboys.

''Never. Never,'' Walker told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday when asked if he would ever root for a team other than his home-state Packers.

Christie has taken some heat for being an unabashed, gushing Cowboys fan, instead of backing teams closer to home, such as the New York Jets or Giants, or the Philadelphia Eagles. Walker, who admits he admired legendary Cowboys coach Tom Landry and quarterback Roger Staubach when he was growing up, bleeds green and gold for the Packers.

Both governors are outspoken in their fandom.

Christie wears an orange good-luck sweater and brags about how it's brought the Cowboys five victories. Walker sports a Green Bay jacket and wore it Monday while practicing his inaugural speech.

Christie's fanboy devotion to the Cowboys drew more scrutiny last week when he was captured on camera - bedecked in the lucky sweater - jumping up and down and hugging Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after Dallas defeated the Detroit Lions 24-20 in a wild-card game.

Walker and Christie, both avid users of Twitter, traded jabs on the social networking site on Wednesday.

Walker tweaked Christie by posting an image of a Packers fan wearing a cheesehead hat that says ''Owner'' on it. ''This is the type of owner I'll be looking to hug after a (hash)Packers win on Sunday,'' Walker tweeted.

Christie shot back with a doctored image showing himself wearing his lucky orange sweater embracing Walker, who is shown hugging his son. Christie tweeted Walker, ''don't worry. there are enough awkward hugs to go around.''

By most accounts, Walker and Christie have a friendly relationship. They attended a Packers game together in 2013, when the team played the Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

''Ironically, he was quietly cheering the Packers on at that game,'' Walker said.

But there's no doubt who Christie will be cheering for this weekend. Walker said he was going to text Christie to see if was coming to the game. Christie said on a radio show Monday that he hopes to make the trip and see Walker while he's there.

If Christie decides to show up, he may want to stick close to Jones and not join Walker and other Packers fans, the Wisconsin governor said.

''While we're awful polite,'' Walker said, ''a playoff game is probably not the place for a bunch of Packers fans to be around a Cowboys fan.''

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Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP