Sportswriters Are Ruining Sports With Politics
Originally published in the Wall Street Journal’s Free Expression newsletter on February 27, 2026.
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Sports teams have been visiting the White House to celebrate their victories for a long time. The Cincinnati Red Stockings visited Ulysses S. Grant in 1869. After the “miracle on ice” in 1980, President Jimmy Carter invited the American hockey players who defeated the Soviet Red Army team to the White House. It was at that time the greatest moment in U.S. hockey history, maybe even Olympic history.
Team USA’s stunning double gold medal performance, though not miraculous, thrilled the nation. But some people—mostly sportswriters—are mad that the men’s team accepted an invitation to visit with President Trump.
“It’s nice to be feted as a winner, as the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team has been. But who’s celebrating you—and why they’re doing it—matters more,” wrote the Athletic’s Jerry Brewer. Visiting Mr. Trump in the White House “normalizes him,” according to Mr. Brewer. “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.”
Team USA captain Auston Matthews plays professionally for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Damien Cox, who writes for the Toronto Star, called Mr. Matthews’s decision to visit the White House a betrayal of the Leafs’ playoff hopes. But Mr. Cox’s main beef is political:
Matthews, apparently, is blissfully unaware many athletes and teams have declined invitations from the Trump administration. The entire U.S. women’s hockey team, possibly insulted by the fact Trump seemed to think putting their gold medal on the same level as the men’s was a joke, said thanks but no thanks.
I have performed at National Hockey League All-Star games. I have drunk beer from the Stanley Cup on more than one occasion. In 2012 I traveled with my beloved Los Angeles Kings, blogging their cup run. I believe I have a certain insight into the culture.
Hockey is different from other sports. Most players come from small towns with parents who struggle financially buying hockey gear while driving hours for 5 a.m. ice time year after year. Hockey families also instill values of hard work, love of team, and honesty and accountability. In the NHL there is deep respect for the game but also a willingness, and at times obligation, to speak plainly.
So here’s some straight talk from the penalty box.
Most sportswriters are radical leftists. They are more concerned with an athlete’s politics than his performance on the field, court or ice. Writers think players who don’t bend the knee to the woke cabal should be kneecapped (figuratively speaking).
These media mobsters—most of whom couldn’t tell you the difference between offsides and icing—are intentionally trying to taint if not destroy the greatest sporting moment of these hockey players’ lives. And the journalists don’t care. Instead of asking Team USA goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck about his historic masterpiece, he’s being asked to explain his decision to attend the State of the Union address. Forget Jack Hughes’s toothless golden goal. Please explain why you didn’t hang up on the president when he made a joke about the women’s team (who had already been invited to the White House, by the way).
The players, both the men and women, have responded with grace and class. They are hockey players, after all. And true hockey fans will remember the past few weeks for what it was: The greatest moment since the miracle. Like most Americans, I love our men’s and women’s hockey gold medalists and couldn’t care less about their politics.
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Mr. Ondrasik, a musician, performs as Five for Fighting.