Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza skipped Indiana's White House visit, and it drew a reaction.
New Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza has gained a reputation for his work ethic and commitment to his job, and he cited those traits as he skipped out on Indiana’s visit to the White House, which didn’t please President Donald Trump, according to a report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
“The reason he’s not here — he was so nice, he called because he has actually . . . he’s a big fan of ours,” Trump said. “You wouldn’t believe it, because he didn’t show up. I’m not happy, but that’s OK. The reason he didn’t, because he’s at spring training, right? . . .”
It’s actually called rookie minicamp, but distinctions like that don’t seem to matter much to Trump. He loves to hobnob with star athletes and sports owners, and in his eyes this was probably a missed opportunity to do a grip-and-grin photo with Mendoza and get a jersey from the former Indiana Hoosiers quarterback with his name on it.
“And he’s at spring training, like his first day or something,” Trump continued. “I said, ‘You better go there.’ But he became Indiana’s first — otherwise, if he didn’t do that, believe me, I wouldn’t have even talked about him. I would have not. If he was not here for other reasons, like he didn’t like Trump or he didn’t want to come, I wouldn’t have even mentioned him. I’d go through the whole [speech] — I’d talk about how great [the team was], I wouldn’t even mention the quarterback’s name.”
Florio commented on this with a sharp statement with his version of what this was really about:
“This is a well-known page from the Commander-in-Chief’s playbook. He likes those who like him. He dislikes those who dislike him — or who are perceived to disagree with his policies or his general approach to holding the highest office in the land and are willing to say so.”
Politics and opinions aside, Mendoza was almost certainly smart to steer clear of all this, and the early stories coming out of the Raiders’ rookie minicamp indicate that the quarterback’s work ethic is real and not just for show.
He knows the last thing the Raiders need right now is another distraction after the failed trade of defensive end Maxx Crosby, and the team has to be happy to avoid whatever scrambling might have been necessary if Mendoza’s visit had gone even slightly sideways.