Part of the challenge is that many players and coaches are taking their final vacations before training campGETTY IMAGES
The Patriots visited the White House after their first five Super Bowl wins, but the club "hasn't visited this year," and now that April, May and June have passed, it "makes a sixth visit more of a logistical challenge," according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. The challenge is in part because players and coaches are "taking final vacations before the start of training camp." Not visiting "might be a disappointment to some who would cherish the experience, but at the same time, it eliminates some of the recent hubbub involving teams from all sports in which who attends or doesn't attend becomes a bigger story than the actual White House visit itself" (ESPN.com, 6/30). In Boston, Tom Curran wrote visiting the White House "isn't worth the trouble." Coach Bill Belichick "realizes the optics" of going to the White House without QB Tom Brady and a "number of the team’s core players who are staunchly against" some of President Trump’s methods and stances. Curran: "Why invite the potential for discord?" (NBCSPORTSBOSTON.com, 7/1).
