Best Of 2025: Sean Duffy Puts The Merchant Mariners On The Map - Starting With A Football Win.

Editor’s note: This week, we’re reprinting some of our best stories from the past year. In this piece, originally published in November, Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan hits the road for some good old fashioned football with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. *** BOSTON-On a brisk November morning, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shipped up to Boston with two goals: making his forgotten Merchant Mariners remember who they were, and bringing home the Secretaries’ Cup. That’s the trophy that goes to the victor of an annual college football game that pits the Merchant Mariners against the Coast Guard, a smaller but beloved version of the annual Army-Navy game. Fans, alumni, and family of the “Kings Point” mariners and the Coast Guard travel from all over the country to support their teams. This year, Duffy and Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem - whose agency includes the Coast Guard - joined their teams for the final showdown of the season. They had a bet: whoever lost would host the other team at their agency back in the nation’s capitol. It was a rare non-political event attended for the two high-profile politicians, who were there to cheer on their teams and talk trash to each other. “Our Merchant Marine Academy, they’re excited to play on a on a big venue like this,” Duffy told The Daily Wire ahead of the game. “And sometimes they don’t get the attention that they deserve ... they’re critical as part of America’s infrastructure and making sure that we can defend ourselves.” “The Merchant Marine Academy, our young men and women go out and make sure we have the capability of supporting the military in doing sea lifts, making sure products are moving, supplies are moving, and our midshipmen provide those services,” he explained. The Merchant Marine Academy is housed under the Department of Transportation, which formerly also housed the United States Coast Guard. The “Coasties” were moved under Homeland Security’s umbrella in 2003. But the reshuffling did nothing to the football rivalry, which dates back to 1949. The Daily Wire spent the day with Duffy as he wandered around Fenway Park, even down to the locker room, where he aggressively hyped up the mariners before they headed out onto the field. “You guys have more heart, more grit,” Duffy told the animated mariners. “So please go kick some Coast Guard ass today!” Many of the midshipmen who were at the game were delighted to chat with the transportation secretary, who spent a big chunk of his time hanging out in the stands with them. “Oh, yeah,” Edward Lippert told The Daily Wire, asked if he was a Duffy fan. “He’s the man. He’s the man.” “I love that guy,” added Christian Meyers. “I can’t wait to see him.” The two young men, who are both seniors at the academy, responded emphatically when asked what it means to them to be mariners. Meyers will go into Navy aviation after graduation, and Lippert will be sailing on his third...

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