We've all done it, you're scrolling twitter, you come across an athlete or sports reporter who decides it's time to share their opinion on something in the news. If you look at the replies there will be someone that says "stick to sports," it might even be you who says it. I know I've said before, not on twitter and not about politics, mine is when my guys Jay and Troy talk about silly television shows on Don't Hassle Us We're Local, I'm kidding usually but I'm not innocent. So let's visit why we feel the need for our sports heroes to stick to sports, why we discount their opinion, and if we can still cheer/like/read someones work if we disagree with their politics or views on an issue.
I think the main reason you'll see anyone say "stick to sports" is first and foremost they disagree with the opinion being expressed by the person they are replying to. You hide that disagreement while saying stick to sports, if there was an athlete you agreed with you would probably not reply at all or even share what they've said. If you happen to disagree perhaps just scrolling by would work best, but there is an impulse in all of us that have to show, I disagree with you and now I'm not gonna like you because we have different politics. I wonder what you want the person to be discussing, everywhere you go these issues is what everyone is talking about, including you. They are entitled to their opinion and they may be more informed than you think they are. When someone is a professional athlete they have plenty of time on their hands as they only work about 5-6 hours a day. If I were to share something, would you say "stick to shipping stuff?" I doubt you would because that would make no sense. So yeah let's not say that anymore.
We do discount athletes and members in the media on their opinions because I think we don't trust them. We want to read their words or watch them perform and think they have no bias, when we all know they have bias. Writing a story about sports though has no bias, if a guy goes 2 for 3 with 2 homers and 5 RBIs that's a good game, you can't spin that. A political opinion you can spin, and when you're used to someone who only deals in facts seeing an opinion can be jarring. With athletes we often think of them as just jocks who are good at a game, have never had hardship and don't need to know anything outside of tackling or throwing a ball. They are obviously more than that and usually they have some education, so they are at least informed.
The last part of this is wondering you can still root for someone because of their politics. I think that's an easy yes, I have plenty of people who I cheer for who's politics I don't agree with. I am a NASCAR fan and that's a sport that is rooted in the south and leans to the right. Most drivers don't share their politics but the ones that do usually share only their right leanings, as to not abandon the fan base. I don't feel shame watching racing or cheering for Denny Hamlin who is a Trump supporter, I don't like him for that reason, I like him for he drives a car. Same reason I like Barry Bonds, yeah he's a jerk but being a jerk didn't stop him from hitting baseballs very far. You have to separate the athlete from the person. I would guess all the athletes on a team don't share the same beliefs and somehow they work together to win games, so I would think you can put your differences aside and still cheer for them.
Try to be fair, try to understand, and please stop saying "stick to sports" to anyone. Hopefully next week I can get back to sports.
No comments:
Post a Comment