The Story
Sports Editorial: The Politics of Sport
For centuries, the worlds of sports and politics have been tied together. Since Jesse Owens won gold, Joe Louis dropped Max Schmelling and Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos raised their single, gloved fists on the Olympic podium, the line between sports and the state, policy and play has been drawn meekly in the sand.
In the past few weeks, America has experienced a sort of political revolution. Regardless of one’s individual sentiment regarding this November’s presidential election, it is undeniable that the implications have been felt far outside the realms of government.
Take the Monday before the election, for example. Any Monday during the months of September through December is synonymous with one thing: Monday Night Football. However, something on that particular Monday was truly unique. Rather than the conventional half-time analysis of the first half, which is generally what occurs during the intermission, Chris Berman, ESPN’s anchorperson for the show, aired two previously-filmed interviews with both presidential candidates. During those two spots, both candidates addressed issues they felt needed change within the world of sports.
President-elect Obama, during his segment, took a somewhat humorous approach to the question of what he would change within sports. He responded that he would like to see the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) of college football be reordered to include a playoff. For NCAA football fans nationwide, this was a breath of fresh air; not only was it an entertaining answer to the question, but it is also something that sports fans and analysts have been calling for years.
The current system of deciding the NCAA championship games for football is ludicrous; it focuses on mathematical formulas and computer rankings rather than logic and reason. Indeed, even in the days after his election, President-elect Obama has restated this point, reiterating that he would like his call for “change” to spread to college football.
During the second interview, Senator McCain was offered the same question. He, too, also locked horns with an issue plaguing sports: steroids. He called for more effective testing policies and the general expulsion of performance enhancing substances from athletics all together. While perhaps not as entertaining of an issue to deal with, steroids very nearly ruined a generation of professional baseball and poses huge health risks to athletes, particularly teenagers. Both Senator McCain and President-elect Obama, on national television, truly defined that while sports and politics do not rely on each other for their existence, they are somehow intrinsically tied.
In the days after the election, sports and politics found themselves together in the spotlight once again. This time, the context was actually a game situation. Denver Broncos Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall of the NFL had been planning a political touchdown celebration. Prior to the game, he had created a receiver glove that was both black and white, an adaptation of the leather glove that Carlos and Smith raised for black power in 1968.
Marshall’s gesture, rather than supporting black power, was symbolic, he said, of unity. It was a positive commentary on the way the country had come together to elect its first African-American president. “I wanted to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me, our multi-cultured society," Marshall said.
However, during the game, Marshall was not able to flaunt his political creation, although it wasn’t for want of an opportunity. Rather, Marshall did not score until late in the game (also on Monday Night Football and televised nationally on ESPN). And, with the game close, when he reached for the glove (hidden in his pants, no less) to raise it, teammate Brandon Stokely stopped him from putting the glove on, fearing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty would ensue. Regardless of the outcome, this incident is characteristic of the ties between sports and politics. Both take the national stage, where millions takes notice.
Be it the State of the Union or the Superbowl, March Madness or midterm elections, Americans have a vested interest in both sports and politics. It is because of this passion for both that the two end up meeting so often. It is, for example, for this reason that in 1910 William Howard Taft was the first president of the United States to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game, a Washington Senators-Philadelphia Athletics (both teams have since moved) game, as it was. It is also, for this reason, that still today, presidents throw the first pitch at baseball games, football games - even Sarah Palin got in on the action, dropping a puck (amid boos, no less) at a hockey game, the Philadelphia Flyers home opener.
Yes, America, sports and politics are attached at the hip. There are few things that are as ideally American as sports. On any day, at any game, any team can win. And, in any small town, any boy or girl, by chance, can pick up a ball, just for fun, and have that same ball make them millions of dollars years later as a professional athlete.
This is America. And as long as “we the people,” you, me, Joe Six Pack, John McCain and Barack Obama are all sports fans, so, too, will sports and politics find themselves on the same stage, in the same arena, and on the same channel.
John Hill is sports editor for The DSJ. His views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.
This piece originally appeared in the December 2008 issue issue of The DoG Street Journal.