Traditionally, at some point in the off-season, the winners of the Superbowl get to visit the White House as the honored guest of the President. This time the champs were missing one large (literally) piece of their team, as 6-time Pro Bowler Matt Birk declined the invitation to attend with his fellow Baltimore Ravens. The reasoning of his choice is very straightforward:

“I wasn’t there. I would say this, I would say that I have great respect for the office of the Presidency but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, ‘God bless Planned Parenthood…’ Planned Parenthood performs about 330,000 abortions a year. I am Catholic, I am active in the Pro-Life movement and I just felt like I couldn’t deal with that. I couldn’t endorse that in any way…I’m very confused by [the President's] statement. For God to bless a place where they’re ending 330,000 lives a year? I just chose not to attend.”

The speech he’s referencing took place on April 26 and was the first speech given directly to Planned Parenthood by a sitting President.

As a retired player, Birk probably has an enviable amount of free time, unlike  gay rights activist and Raiders punter (yes they are athletes too!) Chris Kluwe who had to turn down an invitation from the President because he was actually trying to get ready for next season:

Lest anyone EVER question my commitment to a team that employs me, I present exhibit A. #focus, #SOFOCUSED pic.twitter.com/1DDaokN11E

— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) May 31, 2013