Like Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was added to the President’s Council on Sports, Nutrition, and Fitness. Like Barkley, that development was news to Tua.
Asked on Wednesday by reporters how it came to be, Tua said this: “I should ask you that question, too, brother. How did that all develop? I’m not too sure.”
Before adding that important caveat, Tua spoke positively of the move. Despite his lack of knowledge or information about it.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Tagovailoa said. “It’s an honor. I would say I don’t know too much about it, but again, I think that’s an honor.”
He also was asked about President Trump butchering the pronunciation of Tua’s last name last week.
“I don’t think he’s had the worst,” Tagovailoa said with a laugh. “I’ve heard a couple worse in Alabama, but it is what it is. I don’t take that to heart. It is what it is. ‘He’s a great guy, phenomenal guy, just got to stay healthy.’ All of that. I like it, I enjoyed it.”
The ESPN.com article on the issue, by the way, buries to the last line the notion that Tua was added to the council without his knowledge. How little wrinkles like this get handled by ESPN in the coming months will be important to watch, given that federal regulatory approval is needed from the current administration for the ESPN-NFL Media megadeal.
Given that reality, the ESPN.com headline — “Tua calls appointment to sports and fitness council ‘an honor’” — hits a little differently than a headline based on the notion that Tua was dropped onto the Council without his knowledge or consent.
