re: Black Athletes who decline invitations to the White House

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President Obama honored the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only NFL team to complete an undefeated season (sorry, Patriots fans). However, three members of that team — Hall of Fame center Jim Langer, guard Bob Kuechenberg, and defensive tackle Manny Fernandez — declined the invite, citing political differences.

Kuechenberg: "
I just don't believe in this administration at all."

Fernandez: "
[M]y views are diametrically opposed to the president's."

Langer:
"I don't want to be in a room with those people and pretend I'm having a good time. I can't do that."

Matt Birk, the former Baltimore Ravens center won the Super Bowl but refused to meet President Obama because of the president's support for Planned Parenthood.

"I am Catholic, I am active in the pro-life movement, and I just felt like I couldn't deal with that," Birk said. "I couldn't endorse that in any way."

In 2012, Tim Thomas, a noted Tea Partier, posted a screed against the entire government on his Facebook page to explain his refusal to visit Washington with the rest of the 2011 Stanley Cup-winning Bruins.

"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People," he wrote.

"This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country."

Mark Chmura, a member of the 1996 Super Bowl-winning Packers, Chmura skipped a trip to meet President Clinton, citing a previously scheduled golf tournament. After the Lewinsky scandal broke, however, he said, "I knew it all along" adding, "It doesn't really say much for society and the morals [Clinton] sets forth for our children."

Tom Lehman, an American golfer known to proudly flaunt his Christian faith, Lehman declined to meet President Clinton, instead referring to him as a "draft-dodging baby killer."

Albert Pujols and Tony LaRussa, who both took part in Glenn Beck's big Tea Party rally back in 2010, did not travel with the rest of the Cardinals to be congratulated by Obama in 2012. Neither cited politics to explain their no-shows, and both were already on their way out of St. Louis by then; LaRussa retired, and Pujols signed a mega-deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

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