Well, that was disappointing.

In the wake of its historic gold medal-winning victory over Canada on Sunday, the U.S. men’s hockey team was pulled into the ugly vortex of the State of the Union, which, as you know, isn’t good.

Our boys didn’t respond well.

In the immediate wake of a remarkable run through six teams comprising the best hockey players in the world, they welcomed the AWOL FBI director into the dressing room and cheered him on as he debased himself and his office, revealed to the world they know the lyrics of a Toby Keith song, and laughed at a joke from the President of the United States trivializing the accomplishments of the U.S. women’s team.

One is willing to indulge a group of young men fueled by accomplishment, adrenaline and beer who laugh at a classless joke told by the President of the United States, but let it be noted:

When Donald Trump called to invite the men to Tuesday’s State of the Union address via FBI director Kash Patel’s cell phone, then added the caveat that the gold medal-winning women’s team would have to be invited, too, one man in that locker room immediately said, “Absolutely.”

Most of the rest laughed.

It quickly set off a backlash that many reading this no doubt believe is overheated at best and partisan at worst. But there is no arguing that it was a bad look from a team full of millionaires representing the country at the Olympic Games.

It was the first gold medal won by the U.S. men’s team in 46 years, since a rag-tag bunch of college kids led by St. Paul and Gophers legend Herb Brooks unseated the mighty Soviet Union in a semifinal upset heretofore known as the Miracle on Ice. Nowhere was that more appropriate than in Minnesota, where hockey is something of a religion.

It’s worth noting here that the U.S. women’s team, with one exception, has won gold or silver since being invited to join the Games in 1998. The women won their third gold with a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada last week that was, past success notwithstanding, even more thrilling than the men’s.

But, you know, heh-heh. It’s cute, or whatever. Oh, how they laughed at the president’s dismay about having to invite those ladies to Washington.

It was unfortunate and embarrassing, especially in light of the team’s remarkable accomplishment. Let’s just say it was gravy in a punch bowl. Some of these guys no doubt spend time with the women’s athletes and consider them to be friends. The Frost, which shares a practice facility with the Wild, put six on the U.S. team, and the Wild three.

The women’s team understandably declined the president’s invitation. Because they know when they’ve been insulted. Because they’re not living in arrested adolescence. Because they know what it’s like to be treated as second-class in their field and beyond.

Is it lost on anyone that the president has used his support of women’s athletics to vilify transgender women while out of the other side of his mouth belittles a U.S. team’s remarkable Olympic success? It’s almost as if it has always been straw-man political capital. In case anyone wondered, he just said out loud, on television, that he considers women’s sports a punchline.

Again, it’s understandable that a group of tipsy 20-somethings get swept up in a call from the president of the United States. And to be perfectly fair, nervous gratuitous laughter at stupid jokes is not unknown among anyone, including the press corps. But at some point in this life, you grow up and decide who you are.

Some of these guys will never get it. Others will have that epiphany and look back on the aftermath of ending a 46-year gold medal drought and cringe. Especially if they raise daughters.

We expect trolling from a politician who will use any situation, and anyone, as a prop. It was colossally disappointing to watch a team of young men who should be representing the best of the U.S. so quickly and giddily confirm the beliefs of our most scathing critics.

They took the bait.

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