Backlash against Sidney Crosby unfair

President Donald Trump has shamefully abused professional athletes in the past few days — demanding the firing of any “son of a bitch” who kneels during the national anthem to protest police violence against blacks in America.

Clearly, as an individual, Trump doesn’t deserve a visit from the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

But the decision of the Penguins and captain Sidney Crosby to accept an invitation to visit the White House doesn’t deserve the abuse it is getting, either.

Crosby and the team say they view the White House visit, which they have done before, as an apolitical tradition – one in which championship teams are honoured by the nation through the office of the presidency.

They’ve said their acceptance is a reflection of respect for the office and of the tradition – and nothing more. They’ve also said they respect the right of any individual to go or not to go.

And they “very much respect the rights of other individuals and groups to express themselves as they see fit” about a president’s politics, policies and agenda.

So how about the rest of us respecting the right of Crosby and his teammates to choose how they respond to the invitation in the context of Mr. Trump’s divisive attack on athletes? How about respecting their sincerity when they define what they are doing here?

If we do otherwise, if we question their motives or lecture them that their decision can’t be apolitical in the current climate or that it inevitably lends support to racism and Trump’s divisive politics, then we are responding to Trump’s ugly game by playing Trump’s game.

On a weekend when he should have been focused on the humanitarian crisis Americans are enduring in Puerto Rico, Trump chose instead to repeatedly misrepresent the kneeling protests of black athletes — which were clearly against racial profiling and the use of deadly force by police — as unpatriotic attacks on the anthem, the flag, veterans and American values.

It’s true many Americans dislike this form of protest and find it disrespectful.

But Mr. Trump’s fanning of these feelings displayed a hatefulness and crudity of language that shames his office. It produced a widespread and well-warranted backlash of solidarity protests by athletes, team owners and coaches — this time against his intimidation tactics toward athletes exercising the right of free speech.

So let’s not act like Trump by trying to rewrite the motives and the judgment of Sidney Crosby and the Penguins into something they aren’t.

If they choose to maintain a professional respect for the office of the presidency, even when the current occupant doesn’t live up to presidential standards of conduct, they don’t deserve condemnation.

You can still respect the presidency even when the president behaves badly. And you can set for him the example of respectful behaviour that he should be setting himself.

Heaven knows, the White House could use a visit from some respectful, accomplished people who know how to conduct themselves with restraint and with class.