International sports have always had a political undercurrent. Bitter boycotts, historic upsets, and controversial ceremonial gestures probably date back to the original Olympics, where Greek city-states put down their weapons to battle in sport rather than with war.
For most of its history, the United States has claimed the moral high ground in its athletic triumphs: Jesse Owens’ crushing defeat of Hitler’s racist ideology in the 1936 Berlin Games; the “Miracle on Ice,” when some scrappy American juniors took down the Soviet Union’s “Evil Empire” in 1980.
Guess what, folks? The script is flipped. We’re the new assh---s of the sporting world.
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In case you missed it, the USA played Canada last weekend in “The Four Nations Face-off Tournament,” a newly devised “friendly” competition between top-ranked international teams.
While ice hockey is a core part of the Canadian national identity, it has always run a distant fourth in the States, so let me catch you up: The US-Canada rivalry has grown increasingly fierce in recent years as the US Hockey program has strengthened.
But this game last Saturday night in Montreal had a different energy. Before the game, and despite the announcer’s pleas, a mostly-Canadian crowd booed loudly during the Star Spangled Banner. It’s not the first time our Northern neighbors have booed our anthem, but the intensity of the expression has grown steadily in recent weeks. Turns out you can’t have a leader in the White House imposing tariffs willy-nilly and threatening to annex a sovereign nation and not experience the smallest amount of blowback from said nation’s citizens. Go figure!
The game itself kicked off with American player—and known “mixer”—Matthew Tkachuck challenging Canadian Brandon Hagel to fight. This was not a friendly tussle, mind you. Nor was Matthew’s brother Brady’s challenge to Team Canada’s Sam Bennet, which followed immediately thereafter. Play resumed after this second bout and, within six seconds, yet another fight erupted. Three vicious tilts before the refs had a chance to take a breath.
For those of you unfamiliar with hockey, it’s not unheard of for two opposing players to “drop the gloves” during a game and fight. Referees penalize each player, making them sit for five minutes, presumably to think about what they’ve done. They then rejoin the game, their issues settled.
So you may be thinking: “So what? You said it’s part of the game, right?” Well, yes and no. Instances of fighting in international competitions are very low; even in the NHL, the number of fights has been falling consistently for the past twenty years. Why, then, are American players goading Canadians in a mid-season tournament that means basically nothing?
It helps to explain the crucial role fighting plays in how hockey players self-police their sport: Basically, when someone is out of line—when he makes a dirty play and/or injures an opposing player—there will be retribution. The offender will have to fight the toughest guy on the other side. Though it appears counter-intuitive, fighting discourages lawlessness and bad behavior.
The question, therefore, is who’s out of line? Where did the bad behavior start?
The Tkachuck brothers contend their beloved, innocent country is being “disrespected” by the Canadian crowd. Look, I’ve been a hockey fan a long time, and that’s a new one. These guys get booed all the time. And let’s be honest. Booing a national anthem is a pretty mild form of protest. For a couple of supposed tough guys, having their little feelings hurt by some home-town jeering strikes me as a bit… snowflakey?
Could it be that the bad behavior started in the political arena? It may be uncomfortable for us to accept, but we are now represented by an administration that is happy to be the offending player. When a President crows about putting “America first” by flouting international law and threatening to swallow up other countries for their resources, or perhaps even just because, he makes us all the bad guys.
Let’s just keep in mind: If we’re going to start taking swings at anyone who dares voice their displeasure at rampant American aggression, we might want to gird our loins. And with dwindling friends on the world stage, I can see a time soon when we long for such a decorous expression of dissent.
For the true hockey fans out there, I will admit, there is one other reason a player chooses to pick a fight: Their team has “lost momentum” and needs a brawl to get back into it. And maybe the Tkachuck brothers might not be wrong in their assessment. The USA, once a bastion of freedom and democracy, finds itself increasingly isolated and resented. If we’re being honest, our loss of momentum is palpable.
The “Face-off Tournament” finals tomorrow night will see the US and Canada go at it again, playing this time in Boston. (Knowing that city’s fan base, I have little hope for a de-escalation.) And following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s attendance in Montreal, US Hockey has invited President Trump for the re-match.
It’s unclear if Trump will take time out of his busy schedule of letting a billionaire dismantle the American government to accept the invite. But knowing his penchant for pouring gasoline on petty grievances—and considering our taxes will pay for the trip—he sure might!
Much may be written about “leaving politics out of sport” in the lead-up. Remember, though, politics have always been a part of sport. Historically, we’re just not used to being known as the bullies.
And in the opinion of much of the world, those “U.S.A.” chants that will undoubtedly rain down from the rafters are beginning to have a much more sinister feel.
