The Athletic, Left-Wing News Outlets Scold Men’s Hockey Team for Accepting Trump’s SOTU Invitation

While much of America is celebrating the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal victory at the Olympics, some left-wing commentators are frustrated that the players accepted an invitation from President Trump. After a thrilling overtime victory against favored Canada at Milan, Italy, the American team received a congratulatory call from Mr. Trump and an invitation to visit the White House — a traditional invitation for victorious sports teams. They were also invited to be guests at the State of the Union address, where the president announced that the goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. However, liberal media outlets and commentators were quick to criticize the team for accepting the president’s invitation.A sports-focused outlet owned by the New York Times, the Athletic, claimed that the team “won gold — and then lost the room.”A writer for the Athletic, Jerry Brewer, noted that during the Canada game, “The nation felt smaller. This America of vast divides and rickety social bridges deferred, briefly, to the unifying power of sports. Strangers high-fived in bars. Grownups hugged with wet eyes. Politics and culture wars were suspended for the length of three heart-stopping periods of hockey and one cathartic overtime.”However, Mr. Brewer said after the American team won gold for the first time since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” the celebratory mood started to change when the players took a “customary, congratulatory” call from Mr. Trump and laughed at his jokes. They also celebrated in the locker room with the FBI director, Kash Patel. “In normal times, this would be an obligatory celebration for a championship team,” Mr. Brewer wrote. “But this isn’t a neutral climate. This isn’t a neutral president. And in a nation this polarized, the proximity carries weight whether the players are being intentional or merely naive.”Mr. Brewer went on to say that Mr. Trump, “perhaps more than most modern presidents, understands the optics of standing next to winners. It normalizes him. It softens his cruel instincts and crude jokes, recasting them as locker-room banter. It washes his reputation and reduces the impact of polls that indicate a significant majority of Americans disapprove of his second term.”Mr. Brewer chided the players for “misread[ing] the room” and warned them against “giving away” their “agency” so “casually” in the future. Conservatives derided the Athletic for criticizing Team USA.A conservative journalist, Adam Housley, wrote on X, “OMG … you nutballs need to stop. Just stop. The only room lost is the sportswriters’ room. Fans just want to be a fan and celebrate.”Another commentator, Matt Finkes, wrote: “The only room they lost is the one full of women who before 3 days ago thought men belonged in women’s sports and people who hate the current POTUS so much they can’t see anything through any other lens. Normal Americans are proud as hell of these guys. Read the room and not your bubble.”Yet another user said, “Remember, if you don’t like the guy in the office, it’s about the guy. If you like the guy in the office, it’s about respecting the office.”The men’s team came in for criticism from other outlets such as The Nation, which published an article titled, “The Ugly Underbelly of the US Men’s Hockey Victory.”“The real Olympic heroes were the athletes who stood up for each other — and against Trump,” the outlet’s Dave Zirin and Jues Boykoff wrote. Meanwhile, a far-left commentator, Keith Olbermann, wrote on X: “It’s official US Gold Winning Olympic Hockey team declined invitation to be political props for Trump at the SOTU tomorrow.”“The women, that is,” he said. “The men are still too stupid, self-absorbed and misogynistic to realize that going, will stick to them permanently.”The women’s hockey team, which also secured a dramatic victory over Canada last week, said it would not go to the State of the Union due to “previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.”Mr. Trump said on Tuesday night that the team will “soon” visit the White House, though it is unclear whether or when the team will visit.

The Athletic, Left-Wing News Outlets Scold Men’s Hockey Team for Accepting Trump’s SOTU Invitation

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