One of the rules of polite society is not to talk about politics and religion. I’m not here to break that rule (regardless of the fact that some of you get awfully impolite in my inbox).
However, there is no rule against talking about talking about politics and religion, and that’s what’s on my mind as this election season winds down.
The most recent high-profile breach of the above rule occurred eight days ago when star San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa crashed the postgame, on-field interview of three of his teammates wearing a hat supporting one of the top two candidates in this year’s presidential election. (At least I’ve been told the hat supported a candidate; the contrast on that hat was so bad I could not make out any of what it said myself.)
There are three issues that strike me here. Let’s get the two I don’t want to talk about out of the way:
>> Bosa will likely be fined once the election is over because the NFL is strict about players wearing anything on the field that has not been approved or that displays almost any kind of message.
>> I’m guessing the teammates he stole attention from (tight end George Kittle, quarterback Brock Purdy and running back Isaac Guerendo) were at least temporarily miffed by his little “Kanye West” interruption of their “Taylor Swift at the MTV Awards” moment in the spotlight, but that’s for them to say, not me, and I haven’t heard any of them express an opinion publicly.
The issue I do want to go deeper on is athletes’ right to express their political opinions.
Athletes have long been celebrities, but the proliferation of media — especially social media — has given them a larger platform and greater reach. And more and more have been increasingly willing to express opinions that could alienate half their fans.
I grew up in the era of Charles “I am not a role model” Barkley and Michael “Republicans buy shoes, too” Jordan, when the largest stars stayed away from anything potentially controversial. Both were criticized for their unwillingness to take a stand, Maybe that’s why today’s biggest stars are willing to do so. People will criticize them regardless of what stance they take or even if they take no stance, so why not speak your mind?
Quite frankly, I’m here for it.
When Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest police brutality eight years ago, one of the loudest arguments being made against it was that fans tune in to sports as an escape from the real world and that political statements shattered that peace. But in the week since Bosa made his statement, I haven’t seen any such objections, so maybe everyone is “here for it.”
Even Fox News personality Laura Ingraham, who infamously told LeBron James to “shut up and dribble” in 2018 when he dared to express a political opinion, has been silent. There has been no call for Bosa to “shut up and tackle.” Nor did she tell Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker to “shut up and kick” when he spoke about politics and religion at Benedictine College’s commencement in May, or when he announced last month that he was endorsing a U.S. senator for re-election and starting a political action committee.
I’m not sure what caused this 180 in public sentiment. Maybe being inundated by political ads during NFL games and college football games and the World Series and every other sports telecast ad nauseum has left us all with a sense of inevitability and we all just glaze over (or hit the mute button) when political content shows up on our TV or in our feeds.
Then again, Bosa declined to speak about why he made the endorsement he made when given the chance at the postgame news conference, so maybe that fear still lingers in even our most physically imposing athletes.
One thing I am sure of is that voting ends Tuesday, so we have endured our last NFL weekend of political ads for a while. Not that most of us seem to mind anymore.
