You don’t have to be well-connected, well-heeled, well-bred or well-versed on the issues of the day. You don’t have to perform a heroic act or have served your country in the military or supported someone who did. You don’t have to be famous. You just have to win or more accurately belong to a prominent winning team. That usually suffices to earn a trip to the White House to be honored by the President of the United States and to bask in the glow of his praise and gentle teasing.
Bringing teams to the White House, a practice sporadically embraced since the end of the Civil War, has become so commonplace that champions in pro leagues and many college sports can anticipate being celebrated eventually at the president’s official residence in Washington, D.