Here’s one tradition that needs to be reigned in: the ritual of the president of the United States meeting with all sorts of championship athletic teams. It’s no longer special; it’s routine. And in some cases, apparently, an inconvenience for some of the invited guests.
Recall the University of Florida’s Joachim Noah, who couldn’t be bothered with a coat or tie or a tucked-in shirt when the UF national championship basketball team paid a visit to the George W. Bush White House three years ago. But he did deign to show up.
More recently we have the case of James Harrison of the Super Bowl-winning Pittsburgh Steelers, who will again snub a president. It’s not that “big a deal,” he says and won’t tag along this month to meet with President Obama. There’s even precedent with Harrison, the NFL’s defensive player of the year. He was a jaded no-show when the Steelers met with President Bush in 2006 after their last Super Bowl win.
The point is this. An audience with the president should be special — not just another pro forma photo op session — and shouldn’t be parceled out to every high profile team that wins some championship. Especially at the professional level, where players are paid — often obscenely — to win championships.
Make an audience with the president of the United States relevant to the country. Make it for Olympians, including the Special variety, and maybe a World Cup team in the unlikely event that the U.S. ever wins one. Make it as meaningful as it is memorable.