Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – The Penguins’ Stanley Cup victory hasn’t earned them an invitation to the White House. Not yet, anyway. But if one comes, they will accept it.

“The Pittsburgh Penguins would never turn down a visit to the White House and, if invited, we would go as a team,” team CEO/president David Morehouse said Tuesday in a prepared statement.

Everybody knows that I’m not one of those hockey fans who constantly feels the need to compare the game to other sports in order to feel some sense of validity. You like hockey? Awesome. You don’t like hockey and would prefer to watch basketball? That’s fine with me too. Different strokes for different folks. I get it.

But as a journalist, I have to mention that this is a clear difference between (ice) hockey and basketball. After winning the NBA Championship on Monday night, the Golden State Warriors immediately said they will turn down an invitation to visit the White House. Allowing their own personal beliefs deter them from carrying out a tradition that has been going for years. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins immediately came out and said they would NEVER turn down a visit to the White House. Because they are hockey players and understand the notion of playing for the name on the front of your jersey, not the one on the back. And the front of the Penguins’ jerseys–also known as “sweaters”? It says The United State Of America. Despite being a team comprised mostly of Canadians, Russians and Swedes, the Pittsburgh Penguins realize it is their honor and privilege to visit the White House as champions. Regardless of their own personal political ideals.

The Warriors on the other hand? Well they exemplify everything that is wrong with Millennial culture today. They are the same elitists who led to Trump being elected in the first place. But not hockey players. Never hockey players. Again, I’m not a guy who feels the need to put down basketball just because I’m a hockey fan. I’m just stating the facts here. Plus, Kessel needs another tour of the building to figure out which room will be his in 4 years.

@BarstoolJordie