Will MAGAs tell the U.S. men’s hockey team to ‘stick to sports’ now?

I had the weirdest email in my inbox midday Sunday, after a day (and night!) of reporting on Virginia’s 86-83 win over Miami on Saturday, from a reader and self-described UVA Basketball fan who informed me that if I were to “write one more word about politics, particularly when you reveal your disdain for MAGA and other conservatives, I am done with The Augusta Free Press.”

The subject line in the email: “Stick to sports.”

If you want a shortcut of how to get my blood pressure to boil, there you go.

“You can do it all you want in The Daily Press, The Roanoke Times, The Richmond Times Dispatch, The Washington Post, The New York Times, or any of the thousands of other woke publications that support open borders and Abigail,” the guy went on.

Apparently unaware that, in fact, I don’t write for The Daily Press, The Roanoke Times, The Richmond Times Dispatch, The Washington Post or The New York Times, and doubt that the editors there would give me column inches.

To be frank: I never made it above Low-A ball on the journalism ladder.

The ones who got to the big leagues denigrate me as being “fringe media” for a reason.

When I wrote back to suggest that the guy should “go ahead and be done with AFP, then,” because “if I’m sticking to anything, it’s the present and future of our country, not adults playing kids’ games,” the reply back was:

“Thanks, Chris, I will do that. Not sure what your disdain of MAGA has to do with sports, but knock yourself out.”

The weird thing here: the coverage of the Virginia-Miami game was, you know, coverage of the Virginia-Miami game – with a breakdown of Miami coach Jai Lucas using a zone defense to slow down the Virginia offense, the counter from Ryan Odom, the impact of not having backup forward Devin Tillis in the lineup with a sore knee, those kinds of things.

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ICYMI

• UVA Basketball: Cavaliers outlast Miami, 86-83, in instant classic on Tony Bennett Day
• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos win in spite of being bullied; tribute to Tony Bennett

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Now, yes, if you go to our news and politics sections, you’ll expose yourself to “woke” content about “open borders,” whatever that means, and “support” for “Abigail” – her name, incidentally, is Abigail Spanberger, as in, Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

Maybe show some respect?

Eventually, the guy wrote back to extend an olive branch, saying he is “just tired of sports becoming so political,” which, again, weird – nothing about our Virginia-Miami game coverage was remotely political.

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I told you that story to tell you this story: now I’m going to write about how I wish sports didn’t have to be so political, and it’s going to be in the context of, the U.S. men’s hockey team allowing itself to be used as a political prop by, I guess I should just call him Donald, for the State of the Union speech tonight.

“Everything is so political. We’re athletes. We’re so proud to represent the U.S. When you get the chance to go to White House and meet the president, we’re proud to be Americans, and that’s so patriotic,” said Jack Hughes, who scored the goal in OT in the gold medal game that beat Canada, 2-1, on Sunday.

But it’s not just “the chance to go to White House and meet the president” that is at play here.

Trump is trotting out the hockey team for a partisan address live on national TV at a time when his approval ratings are at a historic low for a U.S. president.

He sent his FBI director, Kash Patel, of all people, for a photo-op with the team in the locker room following the gold medal game.

The Trump regime desperately needs the rub from the hockey team.

The guy’s presidency is flailing; he’s headed toward a second midterm implosion that would put Democrats in position to be able to subpoena to their hearts’ content.

That’s why he invited the hockey team to the State of the Union.

Abigail Spanberger isn’t inviting the UVA Basketball team to the governor’s mansion to be eye candy for a statewide address on her push for mid-decade congressional redistricting, if you see where I’m going with that.

I don’t expect I’ll hear back from my guy that the U.S. men’s hockey team should “stick to sports,” incidentally.

That directive only gets thrown out at athletes (and sportswriters) who speak out against ICE, or in favor of Medicare for All, affordable housing, a fair wage, all that “woke” stuff.