Let Them Play

It's nice that Americans can test the patriotism of their citizens with North Korean ease. Those who stand during the national anthem and applaud speeches from their Commander-in-Chief are the faithful. Those who do not are the traitors. It's that simple. These days no one gets too bogged down in the nuances of John F. Kennedy's call to "ask what you can do for your country." If Americans did concern themselves with such things, then those True Patriots who have been so adament that the NFL coerce its players into standing for the national anthem might send a suggestion to the NHL, which refused to let its players play for their countries during the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The NHL's disappointing stance follows five consecutive winter games in which the world's best professional hockey players asked what they could do for their respective countries and answered by doing what they do best. The league owners generously accomodated their players by skipping the annual All-Star Game and taking a two-and-a-half week break from the regular season schedule. It felt like a win for everyone. The players had the privilege of playing for their countries, while their countrymen had the privilege of watching some of the purest competition that sports has to offer. Though an inconvenience, the Olympics served as an opportunity for the league to showcase its product on the most international of stages before an audience that ordinarilly doesn't care for hockey.

But in the year leading up to the Olympics, NHL ownership smelled an opportunity to capitalize on the patriotism of its players by using their participation as a bargaining chip in labor negotiations--a charge the owners tepidly deny. When the players refused to bend, ownership grounded them from attending the games, trotting out excuses that were either nakedly hypocritical (they expect us to believe that owners who hire goons specifically for their ability to punch other players' faces in but don't require facemasks are suddenly concerned about player safety?) or unapologetically pragmatic. "We certainly understand and appreciate the players want to be a part of the Olympics," one owner lamented, "but from our perspective, it is difficult for our business."

Thus we meet at the dubious intersection of capitalism and patriotism. It is an intersection where tax evaders and profiteers have put their own interests first. Robert La Follette said in the midst of World War I that "wealth has never yet sacrificed itself on the altar of patriotism."

But it is also an intersection where some of the most unsentimental industrialists have put their country's welfare over personal wealth. Cornelius Vanderbilt, for example, often said that "there is no friendship in trade." But in 1862, when a confederate iron-clad warship threatened to destroy the entire wood-hulled U.S. Navy, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton desperately telegrammed sent him a telegram, asking how much it would cost for Vanderbilt to use his private fleet to stop the confederate threat. Vanderbilt surprised Stanton by dedicating his prized $1 million steamship--the Vanderbilt--into the fray, free of charge, on the one condition that he could personally equip it for battle.

NHL owners might take a cue from Commodore Vanderbilt.

In the interest of fairness, let us concede a couple points. First, NHL owners have every right to tell their players where they can and can't play hockey. Second, sending players to the Olympics during prime hockey-viewing season is no small sacrifice, even once every four years. But even in the most sympathetic light, the owners still look ugly. Patriotic sacrifices are never convenient, as anyone who has voted, served on a jury, or held a job open for a soldier on military leave knows. Moreover, the players' vocal enthusiasm for donning their nation's colors puts the owners to shame.  Just as the players deserve praise for being ready and willing to pad up for their homeland, the owners deserve criticism for standing in their way.

The casualty of the owners' pragmatism will be the unifying experience that comes from watching America's best push and shove not for money but for America herself. Perhaps the owners can think about that the next time they stand for the national anthem.