Adelphi University athletes found one way to get fans in the stands to get up and scream before a game — if not only the liberal ones.
The school's men’s lacrosse team used a speech by President Donald Trump as its entrance music as they ran onto the field carrying an American flag.
The 39-second video, which includes a musical soundtrack accompanying the speech, shows the Adelphi players lined up before entering the field. The player at the front of the line is carrying an American flag. It is not clear from the video at which game the clip was shot.
It has already been viewed more than 900,000 times on Instagram — with the typical left-right ranting.
Although it is highly unusual for teams to use a president's speech in an entrance song, this pregame decision does not violate the private school's policy, a university spokesperson said.
“The men’s lacrosse team’s regular-season pregame warm-up music is selected as a team and approved for use so long as they do not contain vulgarity or inappropriate subject matter,” Adelphi athletic director Danny McCabe said in a statement. “The songs they proposed and used this season meet those guidelines. As such, we are obliged to follow the policy.”
Men’s lacrosse coach Gordon Purdie added in a statement that the team “traditionally has chosen patriotic music” to accompany their entrance to the field.
“It was not intended to provoke or be taken as a political statement,” he said. “We’re sorry if anyone was offended.”
The team has reportedly used the same speech as an intro before.
Adelphi, a private university on Long Island, plays in Division II, is 14-3 this season and is the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, which begins Saturday at home against fourth-seed Pace.
