President Obama weighs in on phantom Flag in Cowboys-Lions game
Given the amount of uproar over the picked-up flag in Sunday's wildcard game between the Cowboys and Lions, it would take a pretty big voice to rise above the noise.
That's exactly what happened Tuesday, as the world's most powerful sports fan, President Barack Obama, weighed in on the phantom defensive pass interference call against Anthony Hitchens â which was later waved off by officials.
In an interview with The Detroit News on Tuesday, the President said he could understand why Lions fans were upset.
Obama said he couldn't "remember a circumstance in which a good call by one of the refs is argued about by an opposing player of the other team with his helmet off on the field, which in and of itself is supposed to be a penalty. The call is announced and then reversed without explanation. I haven't seen that before â so I will leave it up to the experts to make the judgment as to why that happen â but I can tell you if I was a Lions fan I'd be pretty aggravated."
Obama wasn't just referring to the picked-up flag, but the decision by Dez Bryant to argue the initial call with officials on the field â without his helmet.
Hitchens was flagged for interfering with Detroit tight end Brandon Pettigrew on a 3rd-and-1 pass in the middle of the fourth quarter of Sunday's game. Refs called the penalty and re-spotted the ball to give the Lions a first down, but the decision was eventually reversed and Detroit wound up punting.
The President, who is a famous fan of the Lions' NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears, said he couldn't feel too sorry for the Lions.
"Given the performance of my Bears, I can't have too much sympathy for the Lions," he said.
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