Commentary: Skipping White House celebrations is disrespectful

I am embarrassed to admit I am not a political person and don’t pay much attention to political issues. But I want to make that clear at the top. Maybe it explains why I can’t understand how anyone could turn down an invited trip to the White House.

It has nothing to do with supporting the president and his platform, Republican or Democrat. It has everything to do about respecting the office and what it represents in the greatest country in the world. There is a big difference.

The New England Patriots barely had finished off their Super Bowl LI win against the Atlanta Falcons when six Patriots announced they would not be making the traditional celebratory trip to Donald Trump’s White House. Reasons varied from family commitments to lack of interest to – in cornerback Devin McCourty’s words – “I don’t feel accepted in the White House.”

This is not anything new. Larry Bird and Michael Jordan declined an invitation to the White House. Tom Brady skipped the trip two years ago, although he is expected to go with the Patriots this time because he knows and has supported Trump. James Harrison didn’t go with the Steelers after their Super Bowl wins after the 2005 and 2008 seasons, missing out on a visit with Republican president George W. Bush and Democratic president Barack Obama. “I don’t feel like it’s that big a deal to me,” Harrison said.

I don’t get that.

Celebrating a championship with your teammates – your brothers – at the White House isn’t a big deal?

It’s an incredible honor.

ESPN reported the tradition dates to at least 1865 when President Andrew Johnson honored the Brooklyn Athletics and Washington Nationals amateur baseball clubs. President Ronald Reagan was the first to offer invitations to championship teams on a regular basis. It’s understandable why any president likes to surround himself with champions, if only for the photo-op. It is one of the few times that everyone feels good about something the president is doing. But it also should be a day that team members cherish, regardless of their political affiliation. I couldn’t imagine skipping the trip and having to tell my grandchildren 40 years from now, “No, I didn’t go to the White House with my teammates because I didn’t like the president’s politics,” whether that president is Obama or Trump. I would have a lot of regrets.

I was lucky enough to make the White House trip with the Penguins after they won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and with the Steelers after their Super Bowl win after the 2005 season. The memories remain vivid.

“And you are?” President George H.W. Bush asked Conn Smythe winner Mario Lemieux during that Penguins visit. Of course, Lemieux took it in stride. He just smiled.

No one had a bigger smile during the Steelers trip in 2006 than Casey Hampton. President George W. Bush blew by the Rooneys, Bill Cowher and Super Bowl XL MVP Hines Ward to embrace Hampton, an old buddy from their University of Texas days. “We used to pump iron together,” Bush said. “His took, mine didn’t.”

I would have loved to have been there when the Penguins visited the White House in October after their Cup-winning season of 2015-16. President Obama showed he knew a little more about hockey than the elder Bush and a lot about humor when he started his remarks by saying, “We are here to celebrate an extraordinary achievement . Phil Kessel is a Stanley Cup champion.”

No one cared about politics right then. It was just a great moment. Everyone in the Penguins party will remember the day for as long as they live.

Sometimes, sports and politics can make for an uncomfortable match.

The Steelers visit to the White House after their Super Bowl XLIII win after the 2008 season was complicated a bit because Dan Rooney is an avid Obama supporter. Rooney campaigned for Obama, gave him a game ball after the team beat the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship and thanked him publicly on the Super Bowl podium after it beat the Arizona Cardinals. That angered many in Rooney’s family – lifelong Republicans – and roughly half of the team’s fans. Rooney later became ambassador to Ireland in the Obama administration.

The Patriots visit, expected to be in May or June, also will be interesting because of owner Robert Kraft’s close relationship with President Trump. The two had dinner together Friday night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach when Trump hosted Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. Bill Belichick and Brady also are Trump supporters, which doesn’t please roughly half of the team’s fans.

Hey, it’s America, right?

“We’re all free to do whatever’s best for us,” Kraft told NBC’s “The Today Show” when asked about his players skipping the White House trip. “We’re just privileged to be in a position to be going.”

Emphasis on privileged.

Too bad not everyone gets that.