If you missed the Olympic gold medal hockey game between the United States and Canada, you missed a doozy.
It was a truly spectacular hockey game. The US took a 1-0 lead in the first period and held it all the way until the third period, when the Canadians evened the score. Then they ended up in sudden-death overtime, where Jack Hughes delivered a game-winner for the ages.
He’d already taken a high stick to the face, so he was missing a bunch of teeth.
It was the most hockey thing ever.
What was really refreshing about it was the way that the men’s hockey team responded: basic patriotism. I know this has now become controversial among some folks, but there’s nothing controversial about America being awesome.
After the game, Jack Hughes said, “This is all about our country now. I love the USA. I love my teammates. It’s unbelievable. The USA Hockey Brotherhood is so strong, and we had so much support from our players, and I’m so proud of the Americans.”
Isn’t that great? Can’t we simply feel good about that?
The answer for some people, of course, is no.
Many people are not feeling good about Team USA winning gold, because how can you be proud of America in the age of Donald Trump?
Here’s the thing: If Barack Obama were president and Team USA won gold in men’s hockey, I think we’d all still feel pretty good about it.
So why does that change if you don’t like the president of the United States?
Notice how the men’s hockey team reacted when President Trump called. Were they upset that Trump called them?
No, because he’s the president of the United States.
Just get over it. You might not like him. It doesn’t matter. When the president of the United States calls to congratulate you on winning a gold medal for the United States, you take the call, and you smile.
There are many reasons to feel good about this, and it’s a reminder of the sort of stuff that typically unites Americans. The first is that we like meritocracy. Virtually every major television event of the last year and a half has been a sports event. Why? Because sports is one of the few areas of American life where we all agree that meritocracy is taking place, that the best team wins, or the team with the most guts.
That’s where all the drama lies. Meritocracy is about the adventure. It’s about the drama. It’s about the thrill of victory. That’s why Americans love it.
And so watching the hockey team win gold is awesome because sports are the realm of meritocracy.
The second thing that always unites Americans is having a common enemy in sports. The common enemy is whoever the United States is playing against.
This has been true forever, and not just for the United States. There is a very famous British phrase used in the lead-up to World War I that stated the wars won on the battlefield began on the playing fields of Eton, meaning that soldiers first learned to work as a team by playing sports as boys, and that connected them to masculinity and military prowess.
And so it’s easy for Americans to come together when there’s a common opponent. One of the reasons we have splintered so much as a nation over the last several decades is that the United States is, in fact, a global hegemon. That is why there’s a feeling that most of our conflicts are internal.
But that’s not true. The vast majority of real conflicts on planet Earth are between the United States and nefarious powers. This game meant a lot to America because it was a unifying moment.
But of course, I’m joking when I equate the Canadians to the Russians. If the United States had defeated a global superpower in hockey that was also geopolitically an enemy like the Russians or the Chinese, that would have been even bigger. That’s what the 1980 Olympic hockey game was all about.
But for Americans to truly feel unified, we have to see what’s on the other side of the fence. Otherwise, we tend to tear ourselves apart internally.
The breakdown here is fascinating sociologically. You’re seeing two groups of people who are looking at this wonderful event, this fun and unifying event, and trying to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Some people on the Left are saying, “How dare we feel good about America in a time when Donald Trump is president of the United States?”
The Huffington Post had a piece by Monica Torres titled, “There’s A Name For The Discomfort You’re Feeling Watching The Olympics Right Now.” Torres added, “If waving the American flag or chanting USA turns you off right now, you’re not alone.”
You should be alone because you suck.
But that’s the basic idea here from some members of the Left.
I’m supposed to feel bad that the American men’s hockey team won the gold because you didn’t vote for the guy who is currently in the Oval Office?
This is a split between the Right and the Left in virtually all polling data. Conservatives are always patriotic about the country, even when a Democrat is president. Democrats are significantly less patriotic about the country when a Democrat is not president.
There’s also a bizarre, fringe movement on the Right, trying to suggest that this isn’t a cool thing. Why? Because it turns out that some members of the U.S. men’s hockey team are not necessarily the most conservative on every single issue. So now we’re going to delve into their social media histories and try to determine whether Jack Hughes voted for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.
Are you kidding me with this crap?
I know that a lot of the time it doesn’t feel like we’re on the same team. Yes, there are Americans who are not on our team. The people who are not on our team are people rooting for foreign powers, and who see America as essentially a dispensable nation unless they win, unless they get their way.
The reason people feel good today about what happened at the Olympics is that it was a nice reminder that we do share a country, and it’s good that we share our country.