Sports and politics don’t mix. Never have, never will. Like oil and water or Adam Smith and Karl Marx. It’s not going to happen, they just wouldn’t get along.
Sport is about unifying, politics is about partitioning. Sport is about passion, politics is about antagonism. Sport is sagacious in nature, knowing no bias. Politics is ruled by the myopic in search for personal satisfaction. When you meet someone new, rules don’t dictate sport as a topic to steer clear of, but rather embrace.
Sport is breaking down the barriers that politics erects.
Sport is a place where Jackie Robinson (1947), Kenny Washington (1946) and Nathaniel Clifton (1950) broke race barriers. It was home to Babe Didrickson, who proved that women had as much athletic prowess as men. It has given the world people who defy all odds like Lance Armstrong and Aron Rolston.
Politics boils down to a yes or no answer. There is no wiggle room. Just look at a ballot. Sure opinion is involved, but only to a point. Look at the facts, they say. No emotion involved, no empathy. Even the vernacular is dry. Debates occur, but only to persuade the opposition to vote one way or another.
That is the reason most sports fans don’t dabble in the intricacies of politics. They don’t belong. There are no storylines in politics. No empathy. No underdogs. No impractical skill either. Unless public speaking counts.
People knee deep in politics can’t relate to sports either. During a game they are too busy trying to persuade you to cheer for their team. Look at their colors, they’d say, they are purple and white! They will show you trends and pie-charts. Even take a poll. Who likes the color purple anyway?
Sports fans love sports for the same reason the majority of the world population loves an artist’s paintings or a musician’s harmony. Each person is entitled to interpret what they see for themselves.
Even at the end of a game when one team is defeated, there are still different interpretations. The athletes are just as guilty as the fans. Neither will tell you they lost. They ran out of time. They had the sun in their eyes. The other guys were the better team that day. There was a stiff breeze.
It’s the same idea everywhere on Earth. Even closer to home, with those upset over the “blackout” at Reser Stadium over a month ago. Politics didn’t see unity, didn’t have empathy for the fans and instead found a reason to build walls. And politics acted out in the only way it knows how – take sides.
Was it racist? Don’t know, but if I had to take a page from politics book, I’d probably check the No box.
How do I know? Sport was involved. And sport is its own beast.
Sport doesn’t think about politics, doesn’t act on it, doesn’t even see it if it’s in the same room. Sport doesn’t shun politics, just chooses to ignore it. Sport has tunnel vision. Sport is its own island, cut off from society.
Sport didn’t care that there were still segregated cities in the late 40s and early 50s because the Dodgers needed a ball player. Sport didn’t care that women were perceived to be inferior in the 30s because it loves to have role models. Today sport doesn’t care that one guy had cancer and another has an amputated arm because it doesn’t know how to distinguish between the two. Sport is here to unify people, not separate.
In Reser Stadium, fans tried every way possible to get black on their bodies. Tights, shirts, shoes, pants, shorts, gloves, and yes, even body paint. It was about unity. And it was what the unity signified that was intimidating — not the color.
They weren’t thinking about the past and what it signified to American history. They weren’t thinking about the future and how they might be perceived. They were thinking about the present and expressing their love for the game and the players in front of them. Regardless of the players race, sex, sexual orientation, religion or heritage.
I may never see sport and politics in the same room but that doesn’t mean they won’t ever carry a conversation. I imagine, when they do, it won’t be over a matter like racism or sexism, though. Sport has a pretty good bead on those topics. Old news.
While politics might label that as hearsay, I can’t help but have a hunch.
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