Washington Examiner senior writer Joe Concha rebuffed the “miserable people” complaining that the United States men’s Olympic hockey team attended the State of the Union Tuesday night.
President Donald Trump hosted the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team on Tuesday after the team scored a 2-1 victory over Canada to win the gold. The team received a resounding welcome at the State of the Union, though Concha said they were “being attacked” by some people online and on television networks for visiting Trump, noting one former Biden administration official called them “political props.”
“But here’s the thing: hockey players are just built differently,” Concha said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends First.
“My brother worked for the New Jersey Devils, I got to know many of them, I got to see them win three Stanley cups back in the day, and you can see then and now that they’re not going to let these miserable people ruin what was one of the great moments for the United States in Olympic history, and good for them.”
“And also, good for the women’s team, by the way, [for] accepting an invitation to visit the White House so there’s no controversy there whatsoever as well,” Concha said.
Concha recalled how former President George W. Bush threw the first pitch in a World Series game in October 2001, a month after 9/11. The whole stadium “cheered and chanted U-S-A,” and attendees “came together” regardless of the president’s political affiliation.
Concha concluded that it’s “a good thing” outlets and opinion pieces criticizing the Olympic team’s visit to the address are getting “absolutely ratioed online.”
“But the fact they’re [opinion pieces] even being written at this point and taking these wonder athletes, men’s hockey and women’s hockey, and turning this into a controversy is just a whole bowl of wrong, guys,” Concha said.
TEAM USA’S GOLDEN HEROICS ARE FOR ALL OF US
Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, a restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, went viral on Sunday when it told the Huffington Post to “go f*** yourself” on X after the outlet published an article suggesting that chanting “U-S-A” or waving the U.S. flag is a turn-off. The restaurant is also giving the men’s and women’s hockey teams free crab cakes for life for bringing home the gold.
Both teams emerged victorious in overtime during a match ending in 2-1, with the men’s victory marking the U.S.’s first in this sport since the 1980 Miracle on Ice.