Biden’s Mixed Football Memories: Confusion over Packers Loyalty and Son’s College Team

In a recent speech at a Microsoft data center in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, President Joe Biden regaled his audience with an old tale about his Green Bay Packers fandom. According to reports, however, Biden appears to have mixed up some details in his story. During the same event, Biden told a group of supporters that while attending a Catholic high school in Delaware, he developed a lifelong loyalty to the Packers due to the influence of a priest named Riley, who happened to have been drafted by the team. However, in a previous account given in 2011, Biden said that his devotion to the Packers stemmed from the fact that the headmaster of his Catholic boys school in Delaware, Father Justin E. Diny, would announce that there would be no last class period on Mondays following Packers victories. The identity of the elusive Riley, who Biden claims was a Packers draft pick and former theology professor, remains unclear. This isn’t the first time Biden’s football tales have raised questions; a similar discrepancy emerged during the 2020 campaign, when Biden claimed that his son Beau used to play college football at the University of Delaware—a statement contradicted by the university itself. If you have any concerns regarding Biden’s recollection of his Packers fandom, feel free to email me at joekinsey@gmail.com.