Maryland Lacrosse Teams Visited The White House On Friday.

The Maryland Terrapins men’s & women’s lacrosse teams left College Park & took the short trip to DC Friday for the White House’s celebration of collegiate sports championship teams.

The tradition of the leader of your country hosting champion sports teams frankly doesn’t make much sense to me, but here we are. If you are interested in the origins of the ceremony, ESPN did a nice job breaking down the history of the event in this 2016 post by Thomas Neumann.

The tradition of sports teams visiting the White House dates to at least Aug. 30, 1865, when President Andrew Johnson welcomed the Brooklyn Atlantics and Washington Nationals amateur baseball clubs. Ulysses S. Grant played host to the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869. The first World Series championship team feted at the White House is believed to be the 1924 Washington Senators, who visited Calvin Coolidge at the executive residence the following year. John F. Kennedy was the first president to welcome the NBA champions, when the Boston Celtics visited in January 1963, and the Indiana University men's basketball team is believed to be the first NCAA champion to visit the White House when it was hosted by Gerald Ford in April 1976.

Ain't that America, home of the free!

Anyway, we ALWAYS try to stay apolitical around here at College Crosse (Shout out to Anthony Scaramucci, though), but Maryland men’s lacrosse winning their first title since 1975 was a big deal, and we obviously have to write about when the team visits the White House. Especially when Dylan Maltz steals the show with his Trump tie. Indeed, if you haven’t read about it, Maltz’s attire for the event was a showstopper.

At one point, the president playfully got into a wrestling pose with members of the Penn State men’s team. Chatting with the Ohio State men’s volleyball team, he popped a colorful volleyball into the air. When Trump spotted Maryland lacrosse attacker Dylan Maltz wearing a blue Trump ’16 tie, he pumped his hand and brought him to the front of the team’s riser near the South Lawn. “Look at that, folks,” Trump said, holding up the tie to journalists.

Here’s a great video from C-SPAN White House Producer Sean Doody of the men’s team with President Trump. It gets really good around the 45 second mark.

Again, we’re an apolitical blog™, but speaking as a straight-shooter, respective by all sides, OBJECTIVE JOURNALIST, this shot of Maltz & President Trump is pretty hilarious.

Always shoot your shot, boys & girls.

The Maryland women’s lacrosse team also had a great time at the White House yesterday. Visiting 1600 is a bit of a habit for Maryland’s women’s team, as they are the most dominant program in women’s lacrosse history, but winning never gets old for Maryland and it looks like the Lady Terps had a joyous time in DC as well.

It’s good to see everyone had fun in the District yesterday. There is one thing I was wondering though: Does Maltz’s Trump tie moment bump the 2005 Northwestern women’s lacrosse team wearing flip-flops to meet President Bush from the top spot as lacrosse’s most significant fashion episode at the White House? I think flip-flops still hold the crown, but let us know what you think in our poll and/or comments below. #Democracy