You may or may not know that Jon Bon Jovi is part owner of the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul, assuming you know of the Soul's existence. But even if some part of your brain has dedicated itself to recalling that useless little factoid, you probably didn't expect this: After Georgia scored a controversial touchdown that took the starch out of a Soul comeback, Bon Jovi gave the ESPN2 crew much more than it bargained for when looking for a reaction shot in the owners' box. Unaware of the camera, Bon Jovi raised both middle fingers toward the officials.Awesome. It's hard to imagine anyone being that pissed off about an Arena League game, let alone the man who owned the 1980s with his hair-fueled pop rock. I wonder if Debbie Gibson curses out curling officials during the Tim Horton's Brier.
To his credit, Bon Jovi apologized in the aftermath:
"I didn't understand the ruling," he said. Bergeron "did have possession on the play. He fumbled in the end zone. He recovered the ball. I reacted to something I didn't know the rule on."Don't get me wrong here: while this sort of behavior is not endorsed for birthday party clowns, teachers, Ohio State coaches, or anyone who works with young and possibly malformed minds, Jon Bon Jovi flipping off referees at an Arena League game is hilarious and strangely charming.
Bon Jovi said he obviously didn't realize that the camera was pointed at him.
"I apologize for the middle-finger thing," he said. "I didn't understand the rule. It's simple as that. We will be back next week."
(Via Ben Maller.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-10-2007 @ 2:46PM
ArenaFan.com said...
Uh, he's part owner of the Philadelphia Soul, not Storm.
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4-10-2007 @ 3:26PM
PG said...
Actually, the cameraman should have panned the audience for reactions to that call. Some were much worse.
I found it charming, too. Afterall, a fan is encouraged to make "noise" and "gesters" at a game and Jon is no exception. It just shows he is a true fan of the team and not just in it to make money. How come you never see Craig Spencer's reactions. Maybe it's because he isn't there.
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4-10-2007 @ 6:18PM
SoulMate said...
Ha ha...the author slams JOn Bon Jovi but he didn't even know the correct name of team. The Storm? I see he's since corrected it to the Soul. As a journalist, one would hope you'd get all your facts straight prior to publishing an article. Little details like the team's accurate name come to mind. Knowing there was such a HUGE error in the first and second sentences, the rest has zero credibility.
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4-12-2007 @ 6:55PM
AJ said...
This man has done tremendous things to fight for the homeless in the US, built a number of houses for Katrina victims, donated alot of money and time to the city of Philadelphia, allowed New Jersey to use his song "Who says you can't go home" as it's slogan to promote tourism without receiving a dime and this is the ONLY thing he's ever done bad?? Good for him! He still rocks!
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