Celebrate The U.S. Men's Gold Medal Hockey Team, and Ignore the PC, Anti-Trump Idiots

Thanks to Trump Derangement Syndrome, the good old days are over. I'm talking about the days when you be glued to the TV during the Olympics, rooting for your team, and cheering when America won the gold medal. Now, if Trump dares to call to congratulate the men's hockey team, it's a disgrace that makes headlines. 

 

I still remember when President Carter called the Miracle On Ice team in 1980 and invited them to the White House. There was no resulting outrage.

 

Just ignore it and savor the moment. And enjoy what Charles Cooke says about the state of sportswriting today.

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Our Men’s Hockey Team’s Historic Win Was Just Too Much for Sports Writers to Bear

By Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, February 24, 2026 11:54 AM

"What nonsense this all is.

"The conventional wisdom within our illustrious sports media this morning seems to be that Eileen Gu, who skis for China, is an estimable American role model, whereas the USA men’s hockey team, which plays hockey for America, is an international disgrace.

"Permit me, if you will, to offer a humble counterargument: In my estimation, Eileen Gu is a mercenary sports traitor who ought to be muttered about darkly, whereas the USA men’s hockey team is chock full of awesome, fun-loving, patriotic champions who deserve every last drop of their newfound national esteem.

"The charge against the men’s team seems to be four-fold. First, that, having won the gold, its members declined to address the “tide of fascism in the United States” and instead said gauche hyper-nationalistic things, such as, “This is all about our country right now,” “I love the USA,” “I’m so proud to be American today,” “This is for every American,” “It’s the greatest country in the world,” and “Everyone better be wearing the red, white, and blue for as long as they can.” Second, that during a post-game phone call with a rollicking President Trump, the players didn’t band together on the spot to push back against his supposedly sexist jokes — or apologize later for their complicity. Third, that the team subsequently agreed to go to the White House to celebrate their victory — and, even worse, that it seems excited by that prospect. Fourth, that the FBI director, Kash Patel, went over to Italy to watch the game and then chugged beer with the team in the locker room. Together, the sporting press is keen to inform us, these decisions have “sullied” the USA’s victory and ruined the reputations of its architects for all time.

"What nonsense this all is. What narrow, monomaniacal, outlandish, freakish guff. I had a low opinion of sports writers before the last 48 hours, but good grief do I now want to throw the entire corps into a lake. The USA men’s team wins the gold for the first time in 46 years, and the news cycle following that achievement is stocked with fringe, politicized crap. I am reminded in this moment of Margaret Thatcher, berating the press after the recapture of South Georgia during the Falklands War. “Just rejoice at that news,” Thatcher said, “and congratulate our forces and the Marines.” Amen, Maggie. Just rejoice, and congratulate our team. I promise you’ll live through the ordeal. Not everything has to be a campus psychodrama. Not all stories need to “surface the nuances of” this or that. Not every incident that tangentially involves Donald Trump requires his elevation to the star of the tale. It’s okay to be happy that the United States won something, without finding 100 other reasons to be sad, angry, indignant, or confused. There really is no need to stretch to canonize a woman who represents another country when we have our own heroes before our very eyes. Rejoice!

"Journalists are not politicians, and there is no need for them to be perfectly representative of the nation. But it might be a good thing for our culture if they weren’t all massive weirdos. If you were to stop 100 people on the street at random and ask them about the USA’s victory on Sunday, how many do you think would fixate on the supposed jingoism of the team, or on President Trump’s phone call and White House invitation, or on Kash bloody Patel? Two? If that? Meanwhile, the other 98 would be busy talking about where they were when it happened, reflecting on whether they thought we were going to pull it out, and meditating upon that glorious moment — played over and over and over in the days since — when Jack Hughes smashed the puck into the back of the goal, and Kenny Albert shouted “Jack Hughes wins it, the golden goal for the United States, for the first time since the 1980 miracle!,” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird started up, and the boys in the band sat drinking beers during the press conference and talking about the thing that had everyone except the pencil pushers watching in the first place: hockey."