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ports and politics should be separate from each other. That does not mean that they always are.

The aggressive backlash from some regarding former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel for the national anthem (and the ensuing trend he has sparked across the sporting world) has become an unavoidable topic in the past week.

Now that everyone with any semblance of a platform has decided to weigh in on this issue, it has become grossly mischaracterized from what it initially was about. Kaepernick taking a knee was not about disrespecting the armed forces, the anthem singers, or for whatever other paltry reason people seem to think he was kneeling for. Kaepernick told NFL.com, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” That is it. That is what he meant by taking a knee.

What is most interesting, however, is the issue of a national anthem in a sporting event in the first place. The NFL becoming a league predates the national anthem becoming the national anthem by a solid 11 years (the former was founded in 1920, while “the Star Spangled Banner was made the national anthem in 1931). Additionally, the anthem was not made compulsory at certain events until the Cold War (around the time they started adding lines about God.).

“The Star Spangled Banner” is a war song, first and foremost. It was written during the War of 1812, and is about the elation felt in resisting the British forces at the Battle of Baltimore. It is a song that declares American tenacity and strength in the face of adversity.

This knowledge then begs the question: why does it have any place in the athletic world?

Given the now-entrenched tradition of playing the anthem before sporting events, I suppose I could see an argument for why this particular battle ballad deserves a place in American sports. What I really want to discuss, however, is how many of the issues raised by those protesting (or standing, proudly as ever) go beyond the world of American politics and sports. Namely, I want to talk about hockey.

In a league of overwhelmingly rich white men, hockey is the sport that boasts just as much racism, homophobia, and, yes, xenophobia, as any other professional sports league out there. Add any other -ism or -phobia that you can think of, and the answer is yes, the NHL has it. Initiatives like “You Can Play” and “Hockey Is For Everyone” have yet to demonstrate that they can significantly shift the culture that already exists within the league.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup this past season. Part of winning the Cup — aside from getting drunk for several days straight and having a parade in your honor — is visiting the White House (for teams based in the US).

You should already see where I am going with this.

The Penguins released a statement this past Sunday saying that they had accepted the invitation to go to the White House. They are the first NHL team to be invited to do so during Trump’s administration, and as such had the opportunity to make a statement regarding the rhetoric established early on in his campaign, much less the administration. They had the opportunity to put weight behind the campaigns that the NHL spouts at every opportunity.

Instead they took the spineless way out and decided to accept the invitation.

The Penguins’ official statement regarding the decision to accept the invitation cited a “respect [for] the institution of the Office of the President, and the long tradition of championship teams visiting the White House” as the reason for attending. They also said, “Any agreement or disagreement with a president’s politics, policies or agenda can be expressed in other ways. However, we very much respect the rights of other individuals and groups to express themselves as they see fit.”

These half-hearted apologies do not make for content fans. The official Penguins Twitter’s notifications have got to be smoldering between replies to the original tweet linking to the announcement and fans and critics alike tweeting at them.

Not all of these responses are negative, to be sure. There are some who say that this was a classy maneuver by the organization to allow an out for those players who do not wish to go to say that they are still somehow respecting their organization. But this announcement comes in curious timing with a very notable tweet from Trump, who tweeted, “If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!” That tweet was posted just four hours before the Penguins announced that they would be attending the White House.

At a time when it seems that Trump has more concern with his popularity in the athletic world than he does with addressing the cataclysmic conditions faced in Puerto Rico, Florida, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, California, and Texas, the Penguins wasted an opportunity to use their championship platform to send a message that Trump’s actions and words aimed towards the sporting world are both inopportune and uncalled for.

Perhaps this realization takes longer to reach the hockey world because most of the players are Canadian. But then I would ask: does not being American citizen make these injustices no longer your problem? I do not think so.

In an effort to remain diplomatic, I will say this. The Penguins do have a bit of a point; I too have respect for the Presidential Office. I just do not have respect for the man sitting inside of it. This lack of respect goes deeper than political party ties; it is a fundamental need for self preservation that has me recoiling from every appearance, press conference, and tweet.

I am a college student who checks off many minority boxes. The Pittsburgh Penguins are a team of rich, white men. The Penguins make up the only demographic that Trump would speak to. Perhaps he could write off the NBA and NFL as more angry black men, but a team of white boys standing against him in a form of peaceful protest — literally, by not showing up — would carry much more weight.

It is a shame that they have chosen this path, and it is a shame that sports have become a political battlefield. But no matter how much blood is shed trying to right these wrongs, the ice, unfortunately, remains unchanged.