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I was dismayed when I heard yesterday about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady declining a visit to the White House to commemorate the team's Super Bowl victory this year. Those teams that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In many ways, the die was cast on the beginning of the end of the Peter Chiarelli era as Boston Bruins general manager the day goaltender Tim Thomas was allowed to snub a White House visit to honor the team's Stanley Cup championship because Thomas wanted to make a political statement of his disapproval of the current President. When Thomas was allowed to do that, he not only showed disrespect to the president, he also thumbed his nose at the concept of team unity.
I don't care about the political persuasions involved, or anyone's personal opinion of Barack Obama. The invitation wasn't a policy referendum. It was about the White House, the institution of the presidency and the role of sports in our society. To be part of a championship team invited to the White House is a rare and special privilege.... the politics and personalities are irrelevant.
I'd say the very same thing if it the situatuin were reversed. If it was a controversial Republican president and an athlete with opposing politics deciding his personal political opinions were more important than his commitment to his team, I'd have the same view. The player is wrong.
At the point Chiarelli let Thomas separate himself from the team, he began to lose authority to show that being a Bruin was the top priority. It was not up to Claude Julien in this case; it was a management issue, not a coaching one.
As a team function on a national level, it was the general manager who needed to step up. He failed, and things began to very slowly unravel thereafter. Slowly but surely, he revealed that for all his undeniable book smarts, he's not really much of a genuine hockey person despite having played the sport at Harvard.
What did the White House visit have to do with hockey? Again, it had nothing to do with players or managers endorsing or rejecting Barack Obama's policies as President any more than it had to do with whether Mr. Obama knows a wrist shot from a wristwatch. It had to do with standing together as a team to accept congratulations from the United States President for a remarkable accomplishment.
White House ceremonies such as these are a longstanding tradition. They have nothing to do with the political party or identity of the incumbent President at the time. It is also unrelated to whether the politician who greets the honoree(s) has any personal interest or knowledge of the field or realm in which the accomplishment was made. Similar ceremonies take place all the time for non-sports accomplishments of major national significance.
Considering how often hockey gets denigrated as a "niche" or "regional" sport in the United States, to have the champions of the National Hockey League honored at the White House-- especially in light of the fact that the majority of the roster is comprised of Canadian citizens and Europeans but they represent an American-based franchise -- is a great honor.
The invitees represent not only their team but its American-based city and the sport of hockey as a whole. These responsibilities ought to transcend the pettiness of politics. Barring some sort of life-or-death situation, it is a slap in the face to all of these institutions to turn down the White House invitation regardless of whether one is a "fan" of the incumbent President.
Strictly from a hockey standpoint, if you don't have team unity you've got nothing at all. Chiarelli unwittingly sent a message to his Bruins players that it was OK to go off and act as an individual rather than a team member. The GM then tried to reel his people back in but the horse had already left the barn by that point.
To top it off, Chiarelli made some bad or at least short-sighted asset management moves --including getting the team into salary cap hell and winding up having to trade key defenseman Johnny Boychuk or, earlier, bringing in an underwhelming return on the Tyler Seguin trade after the team felt its former projected franchise player had become an insubordinate detriment to the Bruins team.
Those who say the Bruins' dismissal of Chiarelli was a "hasty" decision based solely on the team missing the playoffs this season haven't been paying attention to the bigger picture. The foundation starting being chipped away a few years ago and was not properly reinforced. That's why the team toppled in 2014-15. It didn't just spontaneously implode.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
In addition to his blogs for HockeyBuzz every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Stewart writes a column every Wednesday for the Huffington Post.