AP/Brandon WadeNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is unapologetic after he was filmed ebulliently hugging the Cowboys' owner after the football team's victory Sunday.
"When the Cowboys are losing the last game of the year, the last three seasons not to make the playoffs, there's nobody getting on social media giving me a hard time about being a Cowboys fan. So we all know what this is about," Christie said Monday morning on WFAN's "Boomer & Carton" radio show.
Christie, who is looking at running for president in 2016, has been occasionally mocked for not rooting for his state's preferred sports teams. He generated a whole new set of headlines on Sunday after he was seen dancing with joy, embracing a group hug, and unsuccessfully trying to give Cowboys owner Jerry Jones a high five after the Cowboys won against Detroit:
Asked about the failed high five, Christie insisted it wasn't a snub.
"It was pandemonium in there," he said in the radio interview. "It is difficult to describe the level of intensity in the Jones' box during these games. ... Believe me, I'm sitting in Jerry Jones' box, how do I feel pissed?"
Christie's brother responded harshly to the governor's football critics. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Todd Christie told these people exactly what he thought of their "crazy pathetic posts."
"To all of those non Cowboy fans who have their panties in a ringer because the Governor of NJ is a Cowboys fan-GET A LIFE !!!" he wrote.
For his part, Chris Christie said the critical comments were "funny" and "make me laugh."
"Listen, there's nobody yelling at me when we're losing to the Giants on the last game of the season to miss the playoffs. Then losing to the Redskins on the last game of the season of the playoffs. And nobody was yelling at me when Kyle Orton threw that awful interception last year to lose to the Eagles at home on the last game of the year," he said. "So I'm not listening to any of these people who are giving me a hard time now that we're having a little bit of success."