Everything he touches

Good Thursday morning.  Writing this morning from the road, where I have marketing activities to attend to today and tomorrow!

Unless you are totally against knowing anything about sports or politics, you likely know by now that the U.S. women’s and men’s Olympic hockey teams both won gold medals at the recently completed games in Milan and Cortina, Italy.  Both squads defeated their Canadian counterparts in overtime to win their medals, with the women achieving their win a few days before the men.

But you may not know that FBI Director Kash Patel managed to be at the men’s gold medal game and then found his way into the locker room just in time for the team’s celebration following their victory.  There is video and photos of him celebrating and chugging beers with the players, whom he claims invited him to join in.  Then, as if by magic, Patel’s cellphone rang and it was the President, wishing to use the occasion to congratulate the team via a poor speakerphone connection.

The President then made a worthless joke about having to also congratulate the US women’s team and to invite them to the White House or face impeachment.  Many of the players laughed at this but it was not funny.

The invitation to the women’s team came and was declined by the entire team, appropriately.  Instead, they accepted an invitation to have lunch with actor and noted foodie Stanley Tucci and then traveled from Milan to Las Vegas to a celebration hosted by Flava Flav.  From all appearances they had a great time in both instances.

The men’s team, having had contact with the President, apparently accepted his invitation to come to the White House and then attend the State of the Union speech earlier this week.  They posed for photos with the President and other members of his cabinet, were fed McDonald’s and bottled water and then were taken to the Capitol for the speech.  The majority of players who did not participate in the visit or the speech apparently had to return to their NHL teams for games on Wednesday.  

The President announced that he is awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Connor Hellebuyck, the primary goaltender for the American team.  He was all smiles, but it’s worth noting that this award is rarely given to active professional athletes.

In typical fashion, the mass media is not that interested in the contrast between the treatment of the men vs. the women.

But I don’t want to let this moment pass without noting how many of the US team’s medals were won by women!  Turns out it was nearly all of them!

In short, I don’t think we achieve anything by acting as though women are inferior.  They are far from that, and certain people still can’t quite grasp that concept.

Something to think about.  Hope you have a good day!