GOALIE'S 'ICE OUT' GALLING

What a display of distaste from Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas yesterday in snubbing the President of the United States by NOT attending a White House event celebrating the 2011 Stanley Cup winners. That's right - NOT attending! Talk about a major foul. I won't dignify his reasoning by reprinting it here. In a statement Thomas said he was exercising his right as a free citizen and blathered on about it being a choice he HAD to make as an individual. Really? Swap out this guy's MVP award with a trophy for being the highest scorer in the Bad Form Bowl.
As per Emily Post from her Blue Book of Social Usage's tenth edition, 'an invitation to lunch or dine at The White House is a command and automatically cancels any other engagement'. Period. Post goes on to write that 'there are very few acceptable excuses for refusing an invitation to The White House, and the reason must be stated in the note of regret - such as an extended absence in a foreign country, the recent death of a close relative, or actual illness.
Not accepting the invitation for anything short of that might be exercising one's freedom -which no one is arguing against here - but is also the height of bad manners. An invitation from The White House is an honor and as coveted as they get.
The boycott was a slap in the face to the nation's Commander-in-Chief regardless of his political leanings, as well as a hockey stick smack up the side of the helmets of his teammates. The spotlight should have been on the Stanley Cup winners, not the player who was a 'no show'.
Besides, if the MVP is truly in such a lather over the state of the nation, presumably he would have had the perfect opportunity to 'bend' the President's ear for a minute or two about how to get America back in the game. If his 'ice out' of the man who occupies the highest office in the land was intended as a powerful protest, it fell far short of that goal. Tim Thomas gets my mvp title of Mr. Very Pitiful for disrespecting our nation's leader. What a puck! After all, it really DOES 'Manner A lot'!