Thank You, Gipper!
May 3rd, 2016
Thanks to “The Gipper,” the Bucs have a place kicker.
There are many, many, many things for which we as red-blooded Americans can thank the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. As Bucs fans, there is one specific reason.
That would be for Bucs place kicker Roberto Aguayo.
You see, Aguayo’s father, the aptly named Roberto Aguayo, Sr., tried many times to immigrate to America illegally. He was caught often and deported each time.
But as Jenny Ventras of theMMQB.com writes in a fantastic piece on Aguayo, Jr., Reagan’s amnesty act for illegals allowed Aguayo back into the United States.
Aguayo, Sr., first crossed the border in 1984, and was soon deported back to Mexico. He tried again in 1985, and was deported 10 months later. In between trips, he had to save up money to hire a coyote, or guide, to lead the way. Undeterred, he tried again for the third and final time in 1986. He was a migrant worker, traveling between cucumber season in Ohio and strawberry season in Florida. Ronald Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act, passed in November 1986, provided amnesty to different groups of illegal immigrants who had either been living continuously in the U.S. or working in seasonal agriculture. This was a pathway, Aguayo says, for his father to earn permanent residency in the U.S.
Immigration policy is a complicated and polarizing issue in America. Aguayo does not want to politicize it—he’s sharing his dad’s journey, because it has become part of his own journey. His dad told him stories about crossing the Rio Grande even though he was not able to swim, and how the water was barely shallow enough for him to walk across. He traveled as part of a group, living off of jugs of water and corn tortillas, but the rations ran dangerously low during one of his passages.
“Sometimes when I go back home and see my dad, I ask him to tell me the stories again,” Aguayo says. “My dad has told me, if things would have been a little bit different, I wouldn’t be here today. It was humbling and many people don’t see that. That’s how we’ve come to grow up; we know what he has been through. In situations when I am struggling in life or in class or football, I think if my dad could have made it through that, being close to death in many situations, I can get through it.”
So Joe thinks it is safe to say that had it not been for Reagan’s policy of helping illegal immigrants become legal citizens at the time, Aguayo, Jr. never would have been able to take advantage of the American education system. Thereby it is hard to believe he would have found his way onto a high profile campus like Florida State, set NCAA records for kicking, and become the new place kicker of the Bucs.
Yes, indirectly, thanks to Reagan.
God bless America!
At this moment, Joe treasures even more the time he got to hear “The Gipper” speak at the White House as a guest — yes, true story.
May 3rd, 2016 at 5:42 am
The sounds of crickets in the comment section!
May 3rd, 2016 at 5:48 am
Joe can we call him “America’s Kicker”??
May 3rd, 2016 at 5:58 am
TRUMP NATION 2016!!!!
May 3rd, 2016 at 6:28 am
His mama named him America’s Kicker, ima call’em America’s Kicker.
May 3rd, 2016 at 6:45 am
If the Immigration and Reform Act hadn’t passed, we might have a wide receiver and Connor Barth? Butterfly effect.
May 3rd, 2016 at 6:56 am
Too bad today’s GOP completely ignores this humanitarian achievement by Reagan. Instead, illegal immigrants, even the hard-working, are demonized only to pander to the ignorant tea-party-like constituents.
May 3rd, 2016 at 7:00 am
Great story! Love the perserverance this kid has! He is going to score a lot of points for us!
May 3rd, 2016 at 7:27 am
Better watch it, Joe. Giving any republican any credit for anything these days will get violent protesters at JBF headquarters spitting on your first amendment then blame you when things get out of hand.
I’ve know too many roofers and drywallers that have lost their jobs due to illegals, so save the “ignorant” BS. The only thing that is ignorant is thinking being an illegal alien is a victim-less crime.
May 3rd, 2016 at 7:34 am
Thank you Joe for bringing up a little known fact. Your post is dead on. Reagan was a true conservative, what we call conservative today is actually quite radical.
May 3rd, 2016 at 8:01 am
Speaking for Pablo
“Pablo will now add February 6 (Reagan’s Birthday) to Pablo’s other favorite holidays….Cinco de Mayo and May 17, “Birthday de Aguayo”
May 3rd, 2016 at 8:11 am
The kick is up…….It’s Good! ROBERTOOOOOOO!!!!!
May 3rd, 2016 at 8:31 am
Oh good, more politics. I come here to get away from that sht. I wonder what juvenile names Trump would call Reagan if he were running against him?
May 3rd, 2016 at 8:31 am
Has an interesting ring to it. Not sure he is popular enougn, though.
May 3rd, 2016 at 8:36 am
Facist f*ck
May 3rd, 2016 at 8:39 am
We can also thank the Gipper in large part to athletes throwing away their careers and incriminating themselves for smoking a doobie. And to make him out as a friend of the immigrant is hilarious Joe.
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:19 am
We’re gonna build a wall. It’s going to be a great wall, let me tell you. And we’re gonna make Aguayo pay for it.
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:23 am
MAKE THE BUCS
GREAT AGAIN
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:24 am
Thanks for that, Joe. Though I know it was at the price of throwing out red meat for the mob of political illiterates who dominate the scene right now.
Bucsfaninchina: point of fact, Fascist is a far more compelling accusation when it is spelled correctly. Even more so when you have some clue what the term actually means. Perhaps you should spend some time reading Burke, Hayek, or Rene Girard to understand it’s anthropological roots, or, better, reading Goldberg’s “Friendly Fascism” or simply looking in a mirror to see what it means today.
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:26 am
One of the great presidents we’ve ever had.
The left is nuts in wanting open borders and providing voting rights and benefits to illegals. Problem with open borders is the flow of people only goes one way and drags western civilization down.
I also think the right needs to wake up and realize that 10 million plus are not going to be deported. Just not going to happen.
Shutting the border down and providing A path to citizenship is the only logical way. Reagan saw that, they just didn’t secure border that well (but didn’t need to as much then).
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:27 am
Great story. His father was a criminal.
May 3rd, 2016 at 10:50 am
Mice piece Joe. Always fun to hear an unusual backstory.
May 3rd, 2016 at 11:33 am
Top 5 greatest U.S. Presidents of all time.
May 3rd, 2016 at 11:42 am
You can thank regan for mass incarceration, the prison industrial complex, ensuring that marijuana is treated as a more dangerous drug than heroin, and the stupidest economic policy ever – “trickle down economics”. Boy what a great guy.
May 3rd, 2016 at 12:02 pm
Man, this can of worms was ripped right open. I’ll pass.
May 3rd, 2016 at 12:04 pm
That worst economic policy ever got a 7% economic growth rate. These days the “best economic policy” by Obama gets celebrated if it grows .5%. If Obama could even sniff his jock, we wouldn’t be arguing about illegal aliens all the time.
May 3rd, 2016 at 6:43 pm
I never understand why all these poor white republicans support these guys who just cut taxes for the rich and screw their voter base over. Is it the delusion that you yourself might become rich like them?
May 3rd, 2016 at 6:46 pm
Basically applauding the guy for something that would NEVER pass today.
He let millions of illegals stay in America as cheap slave-like labor.
Of course none of the companies who hired these workers would ever be punished, thanks to the same act!
May 3rd, 2016 at 7:59 pm
“I never understand why all these poor white republicans support these guys who just cut taxes for the rich and screw their voter base over.”
^ THIS ^
May 3rd, 2016 at 8:12 pm
As I’m sure you know clodhopper that growth was due to multiple factors, including the Fed taking aggressive measures to combat the sky high inflation, and the massive drop in oil prices at the time. The massive cutting of taxes and services actually hurt almost all Americans except the top 10%. Regan had to go back and raise those tax rates. trickle down BS has never worked.
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:06 pm
Oh. Since the 7% growth was when Reagan was just standing in the way. And Obama being the first president in the history of the country to never ever reach a 3% growth is all Georges fault, then I guess we can all thank Newt for the balanced budget on the 90s and the so called “Clinton Economy” Thanks Newt for a job well done!!!
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:37 pm
You can jump to whatever conclusions you like.
Tickle down simply doesn’t work. Never has.
It causes larger wage gaps and wealth inequality, which directly harms the middle class, the backbone of any healthy economy.
May 3rd, 2016 at 9:38 pm
*Trickle down.
May 3rd, 2016 at 10:11 pm
We must be in trickle down right now then since the wage gap is bigger than ever right now. And the middle class is fokt right now.
May 3rd, 2016 at 10:43 pm
Lets not forget to think him for an extremely large debt and deficit, raising health care cost that lead to the death of many American, of which most where white, low paying job, the Iran Contra scandal, and American jobs going overseas. The list goes evan longer. But, he cannot be blamed for that because he was senile and greatly insane.
May 4th, 2016 at 12:24 pm
Yes the wage gap has been increasing steadily since regan but I guess that was probably all Obamas fault right? Probably his fault the republicans have declared since his first day in office that their entire strategy has been complete obstruction and making sure nothing gets done whatsoever. Instituting voter ID laws and closing early voting around the country because conservatives can’t win when everyone is actually allowed to vote.
But I’m sure your boy Trump will change all that. Oh wait, he’s the exact type of special interest that you claim to despise.