JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Pedro Amador has been a Jacksonville Jaguars fan nearly his entire life. He quickly fell in love with football and the team after moving to Duval County from Puerto Rico when he was 9 years old.
Over the last 21 years, he’s suffered through losing season after losing season.
“It’s definitely it’s been a rough ride,” Amador, 29, told News4JAX on Tuesday. “But, you know, stay loyal is the thing you gotta do the most and rep your hometown. You know, we’ve been through a lot of bad situations, but also 2017 was, you know, some of the best times in my life. So, you know, sticking it out, makes those moments even better, in a way.”
Now, after a stunning comeback win in overtime against the Dallas Cowboys, the Jaguars are rolling and finally have the chance to make the playoffs first the first time since that deep playoff run five years ago.
On Thursday night, the Jaguars most likely need a win against the New York Jets in New Jersey to keep their playoff hopes alive. Amador knew he wanted to be there.
As he puts it — who knows the next time they will be in the hunt again?
But as many married men can understand, Amador first had to make sure it was OK with his wife Katie, who is currently pregnant with twins and not exactly a huge football fan.
The first time Amador asked if he could go, it was a quick no. So, he hatched a clever plan.
Amador, who regularly creates digital presentations for his job, decided to put one together for his wife. Amador laid out in detail all the reasons he wanted to attend the pivotal game just a few days before Christmas. People saw the presentation and thought it was hilarious.
Alright pals. Without further ado here is the PowerPoint I will present to my wife tonight. Thank you all for your help: https://t.co/qMJYbLIjZY pic.twitter.com/R01BCzeZz5
— Dro (@pedrizzyy) December 19, 2022
The presentation, set to “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra, is titled “Why Pedro should be allowed to go to NY for TNF.”
Here were some of his best arguments:
- Because Trevor [Lawrence] is HIM
- My parents have agreed to watch our wonderful daughter one of the days IF I take them to Ale House to get mountain melts
- You can go shopping
- Paul from Twitter will be there (I don’t know Paul but he will be there and he seems like a nice guy)
- I will be home for Christmas. Just in time for dinner and the holiday party I will be begrudgingly attending for your friend that I don’t like
- I can visit locations from my favorite show “The Sopranos”
- Last time the Jaguars were good I still had hair. Much like my hair, these good times don’t last forever so I must enjoy them while I can.
Amador posted the presentation on Twitter and got a lot of love and support from the rest of #JagsTwitter.
“It just kind of like, took off,” he said. “I gained like, 300 followers. It got like 1,000 likes. It was the craziest thing.”
But before he got the chance to make his arguments in person, another Jacksonville TV station took notice and showed it on its Monday evening newscast.
“It was funny because my wife was at a holiday party and where she works the news is always on so she had no idea and she looks up at the TV and sees me up there saying “get Pedro to New York” and she instantly calls me it goes, ‘What did you do?’” Amador said. “When she saw it, she was like, shocked. She thought it was like a prank I was playing on her.”
Eventually, Katie said yes. But she had some terms of her own including new makeup, an overnight babysitter one night (dogs included) and a credit card for “incidentals.”
“Her biggest term was she wants naming rights to both the twins. So, I had to give that up in order to go to this game,” he said laughing.
After hearing the story, Amador’s boss laughed and agreed to give him the day off to go to the game, but he still has a couple more things to lock down.
“So, the last thing I have to do now is try to justify these plane ticket prices and just book that flight and get up there,” he said.
Amador said he found a friend to stay with and is looking forward to going to the game with one of his close friends. After it all, he wanted to make sure to give a special shoutout to his wife who made it all possible.
“You’re amazing. You’re beautiful. I love you. You’re so patient. I’ll be back before Christmas, you know? We’re gonna have a good time, Katie. So, thank you for being the coolest wife ever and I love you,” he said.