Gene Therapy: No Time to "Stick to Sports"
by Gene Clemons
“Stick to sports!”
If you have played, coached, or covered sports you know this phrase all too well. The familiar refrain of those who believe that if you are involved in athletics, then all you should ever care about or talk about is athletics. The assumption is that all you know about is sports and therefore you are unqualified to speak about anything else intelligently. The hypocrisy is maddening. Most fans don’t really understand the sports they follow but it has never kept any of them from discussing it ad nauseum. Doctors are not told to “stick to medicine,” carpenters are not asked to “stick to building things” and people who work at a supermarket are not told to “stick to groceries.” Why is there a double standard for people who participate in and cover sports?
The tragedy in Uvalde Texas once again put America in the crosshairs of domestic terrorism and sports media members in a position where we are left to ponder if it is time for social commentary or the escapism that comes along with tuning into your favorite sports television show, radio broadcast, podcast, or column. In many cases it can be a delicate balance. There are so many other media outlets and sources that someone can turn to which don’t offer the opportunities to escape into the sports world. So, when the sports world decides, it is going to switch up normal programming to illuminate a particular story, when they decide that their commentary on an event, topic, or issues supersedes that of the sports climate that they normally indulge in, there are times where there is push back. That resistance normally comes in the form of the phrase “Stick to Sports!”
What many fans who feel this way fail to understand is that sometimes there are topics that media members do not feel comfortable with letting go by without addressing them. At the end of the day humanity should win out over a bottom line or an inconvenience to one’s normal escapism. It is impossible to escape for people who have immersed their lives in mass media. How do you come into a local radio show, think about the issues that trouble our country, know you have a platform to address those issues, however big, and say nothing? It is incumbent on those who can help to do so.
This was no more evident in how the “Worldwide Leader” handled its sports personalities. Jemele Hill and Dan Lebatard were both suspended for their social/political commentary while working at ESPN. In Hill’s case she was suspended for political tweets that she made on her personal profile. Both incidents soured the relationship with the popular personalities and ultimately ended their relationship. Both have gone on to find the freedom they sought while at ESPN. The interesting thing is that after their departures (Hill’s especially) and in the wake of the senseless murders of multiple black and brown people at the hands of the police force, ESPN allowed their personalities to open up and share strong commentary on the subject which included many heartfelt, teary-eyed, strongly defiant admonishments of the police force and hoe they have treated people of color. Even in those cases, the “stick to sports” regulars came out to admonish the efforts to bring about change on the airwaves of their favorite sports talk debate show platform.
The hypocrisy is almost laughable if the subject matter was not so serious. Many of the same people who will tell athletes and the media members who cover them to stick to sports, are the same people who talk about athletes and media members having the power to make changes and influence people. How they feel seems to only depend on if they are personally affected by the issue. If so, then it is ok to address it and in fact, it is our duty to do so. If not, then media and athletes alike should just engage in the sports rhetoric that pleases them. You wonder if these people truly believe that athletes and sports media members really want to talk about these difficult subjects. There would be no reason to talk about police forces using excessive force if police did not use excessive force. There would be no reason to write monologues about racial inequality if that inequality did not exist. And the last thing anyone ever wants to discuss is mass murder and murdering children. These are not topics that many look to tackle or discuss but when they happen, what other choice are we left with?
We should never have to address children being massacred in a school while police forces sit outside and detain parents who are only trying to help their kids. There should be no reason to address unarmed black men and women being killed by police officers while heavily armed white terrorist are apprehended unharmed. The truth is that most members of the media do the very best they can to stick to sports or to create a sports angle in their commentary. If they truly addressed all of the horrible things that happened in this country there would be no time for sports and eventually they would depress themselves but again, there are some things that no matter how you try, you can not and should not ignore. Sports and sports media should never have to be the vehicle for escape because you don’t want to deal with the heartbreak associated with these events. We should all do a better job of making sure these events do not continue, and how else do you make that happen, if everyone doesn't talk about it ..
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Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.
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