Two-plus years and a heart attack’s worth of fast food later, President Donald Trump has finally realized that women win championships, too.
Baylor will visit the White House on Monday, the first women’s team to receive an individual invite from Trump. While we could question why it’s taken so long or ponder why Baylor was deemed worthy when South Carolina, the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm were not, let’s instead focus on the positives.
When the Bears visit the White House, the nation will see a group of strong, powerful women whose accomplishments are the result of hard work, sweat and determination. Who reached the pinnacle of their sport on their own merits and not because of who their parents are or their socioeconomic status.
Plenty of women – and men, too, for that matter – could learn something from Lauren Cox, the team’s second-leading scorer and a two-time Big 12 defensive player of the year. Cox injured her left knee late in the third quarter of the national title game, a crushing disappointment, yet was soon back on the bench to cheer on her teammates.
Or Chloe Jackson, whose adjustment to Baylor as a graduate transfer became the easy part after she also was asked to play a new position. Or NaLyssa Smith, who could have gone pretty much anywhere but chose Baylor knowing she’d be coming off the bench.
Baylor guard Chloe Jackson cut a piece of the net after the Bears beat Notre Dame for the NCAA championship. (Photo: The Associated Press)
Stories like that abound in women’s athletics, and it will be good for Trump to see what women can do when they have equal opportunities and resources. Perhaps Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could take a break from her efforts to help sexual predators on college campuses avoid accountability and come meet the Baylor women. That way she can see firsthand why it’s so imperative to believe in women and support the protections offered by Title IX.
But why stop there? There is no shortage of female athletes who should be championed by the White House.
WHITE HOUSE WELCOME: Baylor women's basketball team says it has accepted invitation to visit White House
The U.S. women’s hockey team just won its fifth consecutive world title, defeating Finland in a shootout. Earlier in the tournament, the Americans beat old foe Canada in a rematch of last year’s Olympic gold medal game.
They also walloped Russia twice during the world championships, including an 8-0 rout in the semifinals. Maybe best not to bring that one up.
And, of course, the U.S. women’s soccer team is favored to defend its title at this summer’s World Cup in France. President Barack Obama’s reception for the women after they won four years ago was legendary — he used the term “badass” in the White House! — and no doubt Trump will want to follow his predecessor’s lead.
Now, it’s possible some of these athletes would turn down an invitation from the White House, just as the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia Eagles did. If the U.S. women repeat as World Cup champions, for example, I can see Megan Rapinoe having something else to do that day, no matter what day it is.
And if any of the women say no, so be it. It's not as if the president can force them to do anything.
But that's a worry for another day. For now, it's enough that Trump has extended an invitation to the Baylor women, giving the winners their rightful due at the White House.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.
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