--- title: Marco Rubio Hurls Footballs at Conservatives Who Doubted Him description: The Florida Sen. appeared in a video short released Tuesday where Rubio pitches footballs at a number of politicians and pundits. canonical: https://time.com/4194218/marco-rubio-football-revenge/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-26T18:11:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:27:18.418Z article:section: Politics og:title: Marco Rubio Hurls Footballs at Conservatives Who Doubted Him og:description: The Florida Sen. appeared in a video short released Tuesday where Rubio pitches footballs at a number of politicians and pundits. og:url: https://time.com/4194218/marco-rubio-football-revenge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04c4741456390684/6988601e5f570fcdd0b1d031/marco-rubio-football.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sen. Marco Rubio Iowa football og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marco Rubio Hurls Footballs at Conservatives Who Doubted Him twitter:description: The Florida Sen. appeared in a video short released Tuesday where Rubio pitches footballs at a number of politicians and pundits. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04c4741456390684/6988601e5f570fcdd0b1d031/marco-rubio-football.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Marco Rubio Hurl Footballs at Conservatives Who Doubted Him by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 26, 2016 6:11 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reacts as a child unsuccessfully catches a football during an event at Dean Park in Ankeny, Iowa on Aug. 17, 2015. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reacts as a child unsuccessfully catches a football during an event at Dean Park in Ankeny, Iowa on Aug. 17, 2015.Al Drago—Congressional Quarterly/AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 26, 2016 6:11 PM UTC With the Iowa Caucus fast approaching, it’s almost halftime in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and Marco Rubio may [need a big play to stay in the game](http://time.com/4172034/marco-rubio-criticism-republicans/)—but not before getting a little revenge on conservatives who [may have doubted him](http://time.com/3819977/marco-rubio-campaign-launch/). The Florida Sen. appeared in a video short released Tuesday by the _Independent Journal Review_, a conservative web publication, where Rubio pitches footballs at a number of politicians and pundits who make cameos in the video, titled “How To Get Revenge With A Football.” In one scene, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner slights Rubio’s hometown team while watching at a bar, saying “man, these Dolphins suck!” A football later knocks Gardner’s beer onto the floor. Other notable appearances include Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, anti-taxer Grover Norquist, Daily Caller founder Tucker Carlson, Rep. Trey Gowdy and fellow candidate Ben Carson—who makes an awkward catch with his “Gifted Hands.” The video pokes fun at Rubio for an incident in August where he [hit a kid in the head](http://time.com/4001978/marco-rubio-kid-football/) with a football during a game of catch in Iowa. Rubio, who [played college football](http://time.com/4001978/marco-rubio-kid-football/) for a year, has made football a [staple of his campaign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqL2ZiP8AvE) rhetoric. Rubio’s wife, Jeanette, was a Dolphins cheerleader—which may be why he threw at Gardner twice. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4194218/marco-rubio-football-revenge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4194218/marco-rubio-football-revenge/"},"headline":"Watch Marco Rubio Hurl Footballs at Conservatives Who Doubted Him","datePublished":"2016-01-26T18:11:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:27:18.418Z","description":"Football has become a common theme of Rubio's campaign","url":"https://time.com/4194218/marco-rubio-football-revenge/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Sen. 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