Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

As Sports Media Cheers On Athlete Boycotts, Fans Will Walk Away
The Federalist ^ | August 27, 2020 | Ben Domenech

Posted on 08/27/2020 9:31:00 AM PDT by Kaslin

Humanity is entertained by competition of all kinds. The pandemic has shown sports fans will find a new way to cheer and chant and boo.


It is sometimes underappreciated how new professional sports is as a dominant cultural phenomenon. For the vast majority of human history, sports has been overwhelmingly played by amateurs. And even in America, it is only in the past fifty years that this professionalized version of sport became a route to wealth. Baseball, which has the longest professional sports history in the United States, illustrates this: the average MLB salary is up an inflation-adjusted 3,000 percent since the late 1960s. Professional sports only became big money in the era of television, as a form of mass entertainment that did not require you to even go to the games to have a rooting interest, and for the multinational corporations to sell you beer and trucks and sugary gas-infused water.

This is not to denigrate professional sports or to suggest that the Olympics are more entertaining than the NFL. Pro athletes who play the games do incredible things. Pro sports is profoundly enjoyable as entertainment, and as human drama there are few things that can match it. But on a certain level, this Seinfeld comment may be his most true observation: you’re rooting for laundry. The same player you loved in one uniform, whose strengths you valued and whose failures you dismissed as quirks of the trade, becomes nothing but a hated rival, a traitor, who took the money instead of playing for less while garbed in the proper colors.

But one thing we need to acknowledge is this: professional sports is not an essential good. It is a luxury good. Americans were satisfied for most of our history by sports that have little to no cultural impact now. And what this pandemic has taught us is that in a world of vast amounts of entertainment, if the entertainment isn’t there, humanity will go elsewhere. The explosion of esports during the lockdown is just one example of that – Twitch viewership has exploded, as the virtual arena never closed. Humanity is entertained by competition of all kinds, and professional physical competition is just one variety of that. If it diminishes in quality – if the show sucks – they will switch to another and find a new way to cheer and chant and boo. When the Super Bowl is over, you turn on Netflix.

One thing you can’t turn to is the NBA. If you go to the NBA’s website today, the top story there reads: “NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing not to play in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice. Latest updates: Players demand change.” If you follow the link to “Players demand change”, no changes are listed, nor are any in the offing. Yesterday, Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC tweeted “Well – there may not be have been games, but game plans are coming”. I look forward to hearing her solutions.

This is a performative act on the part of NBA players, designed to gain praise from media quarters while denying their fans the respite they deserve. Sportswriters drive a misperception of athletes in part because, in jaded fashion, they devalue winning. The outcomes of games are not as important to them as to fans. They value drama and performance and good quotes – the matter of who wins and who loses is subsidiary.

Fans generally like players because they’re athletes. Writers like them when they become more than athletes, when they make for better subject matter. Surrounded by cooing media members who incentivize political statements, some athletes can be gaslit into thinking the world is different than it is. And then you get the James Harden vs. Lebron James problem.

Of course, it was James’ silence that became so symbolic last year as an indication of his lack of bravery on political issues that underlies all of this braggadocio now. The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss has been up front with his criticism of this, much to the frustration of other sportswriters, like this Slate writer who recently interviewed him.

I think it’s completely obvious to people who aren’t in the bubble. You have your most precipitous drop this last year after [the NBA’s response to Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s comments about] China. I mean an absolute free fall, where you’re losing double digits on the national ratings, double digits on the local ratings.

And yeah, maybe you’re never going to be able to prove it to a T that it had something to with China, but that is when the NBA is hitting the news for people who are not necessarily completely engaged. And I think that when you talk to a lot of people who aren’t within media, people maybe where their politics don’t line up 100 percent with what’s being evinced, yeah, a lot of people are turned off by it.

I think that it doesn’t take a lot of imagination, really. I feel like I’m being put in the position in a way of just explaining the obvious, that gravity exists. And I guess I would say to you, why wouldn’t it have an impact?

Expect this NBA strike, and it essentially is a strike that could suspend permanently what has been a terrible season ratings-wise, to become an issue where woke sportswriters attempt to use it to create drama in other leagues. ESPN’s hockey writer was already expressing her disappointment last night that the NHL would continue to play, as they are paid to do. It will be interesting to see if they try to badger the NFL into such denial of their fans. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman are already calling the NFL to boycott. To what end? Well, the political preferences of the writers, obviously. Little else is of importance.

Media is already comparing Lebron to Muhammad Ali. Ali, you recall, was facing jail time for his act of protest. Lebron faces no negative consequences whatsoever. This matters. People turn on athletes when they refuse to play – sometimes vociferously, but more often by just turning to other things. And then the corporate sponsors and the people with television contracts to honor start to get antsy.

But it’s the fans who miss it the most. Yesterday, right after the Milwaukee Bucks announcement that they would not play their playoff game, an older man named Larry called into DC sports radio’s The Fan. “I thought I could get away from politics by listening to sports … but now … it’s no escaping politics. I’m a Democrat but they’re gonna make me become a Republican if they keep doing this stuff.”

"I feel like I can get away from politics by listening to sports, but now, there's no escaping politics."

We hear you, Larry.

"I feel like I can get away from politics by listening to sports, but now, there's no escaping politics."

We hear you, Larry.

I hear you Larry. The times of great strife in American history when professional sports brought us together more than it tore us apart were good. But for now, at least, those times are just a memory. We’ll see if they come back.



TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: blacklivesmatter; boycott; china; culture; fans; jacobblake; lebronjames; nba; nfl; nhl; professionalsports; protest; republicans; sports; sportsjournalism
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-40 next last

1 posted on 08/27/2020 9:31:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Sports media cheers on the canceling of the very events they cover in order to earn their paychecks.

Just can’t fix that kind of stupid.


2 posted on 08/27/2020 9:33:14 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

White America could cripple pro sports if they chose to do so. Just saying ...


3 posted on 08/27/2020 9:34:03 AM PDT by CatOwner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

That’s one way to get those hugh contracts under control..

All those poor multimillionaire athletes.. so abused..so.. so.. soon to be unemployed.. permanently.


4 posted on 08/27/2020 9:34:42 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CatOwner

this idiot exited tennis tournament..now she is going to play

unfair to Mertens her opponent

https://sports.yahoo.com/naomi-osaka-exits-tennis-tournament-161850204.html


5 posted on 08/27/2020 9:35:56 AM PDT by RummyChick (Stop Apologizing for things you didn't do. Stop Demanding Apologies when refuse to forgive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

This fan walked away years ago when thugs replaced athletes.


6 posted on 08/27/2020 9:35:59 AM PDT by ryderann
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

These sports “professionals” now start a game by effectively laying down our flag and taking an open poo on it, then say their effort was a protest against whites for blacks, for which on the field are black.

I know it is instead our National Anthem and the flag is raised, but the butt turning towards the flag or people looking away in shame is not much different.

These people, and the entire sports industry, are €£@^.


7 posted on 08/27/2020 9:38:41 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Just to compare the athlete of old to the “superior” modern athlete: a 100 meter race between Jesse Owens and Usain Bolt on the same track, with the same shoes, and the same starting blocks, would be exceptionally close (it would be Bolt by less than a step, according to most analyses). Throw in the same dietary “supplements” or lack thereof, and you might have it the other way around.

Sports have outgrown their role and their usefulness. They are bloated, and COVID-19 is deadly to that sort of thing.


8 posted on 08/27/2020 9:39:16 AM PDT by cdcdawg (Biden has dementia.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I can’t ignore the NBA any more than I do.


9 posted on 08/27/2020 9:44:35 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

How long before they figure out that we watch sports to get away from the political crap, not have it rubbed in our faces?.............................


10 posted on 08/27/2020 9:44:42 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I’m cheering them on too. I hope that pro sports, as it’s been known during the last 60 years, disappears. It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.


11 posted on 08/27/2020 9:47:41 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (In time of peace, prepare for war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CatOwner

Hoping the NHL still remains nuetral-


12 posted on 08/27/2020 9:48:07 AM PDT by slapshot ( Speaker Ryan was a sober and less tan version of John Boehner)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Hey NBA racist thugs.

You are ENTERTAINMENT.

Nothing more.

No one needs ENTERTAINMENT. No one wants to be lectured to while paying for ENTERTAINMENT.

And the entertainment industry is HIGHLY competitive.

You run up and down a court chasing a ball.

You had no idea how good you had it.

Dumb mutherf+ckers.


13 posted on 08/27/2020 9:49:06 AM PDT by 2banana (Common ground with islamic terrorists-they want to die for allah and we want to arrange the meeting)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: slapshot
Hoping the NHL still remains nuetral

They were getting a lot of flack, being mostly white, for not following the leads of the NBA and MLB. Of course, the NBA has already backtracked.

14 posted on 08/27/2020 9:49:22 AM PDT by CatOwner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

15 posted on 08/27/2020 9:52:40 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Yahoo Sports shut off comments. Then have sports columnists pontificate about how racist and hateful each sport is. I assume it will continue until after the election is over, then they will turn comments back on again. I am not going back to reading their web page.


16 posted on 08/27/2020 9:53:30 AM PDT by alternatives? (If our borders are not secure, why fund an army?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

So looking forward to them finding out about “get woke, go broke” the hard way.


17 posted on 08/27/2020 9:58:04 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CatOwner
White America could cripple pro sports if they chose to do so. Just saying ...

The trend I see is white people "going Galt" when it comes to pro sports. We're just walking away from it all.

The next few years are going to be problematic for the business of professional sports. Up until 6 months ago, their business models were based on double-digit revenue increases ad infinitum.

The only way for owners to recoup dollars lost this year is expansion. Of course, that will dilute the talent of their teams, which we've seen before.

18 posted on 08/27/2020 9:58:19 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The left wing idiots at CBS Sports want everything shut down - NBA - College Football - NFL - isn’t that where they make their living? Dennis Dodd on CBS Sports was cheering when the Big 10 & Pac 10 shut down fall sports - Why?


19 posted on 08/27/2020 9:59:14 AM PDT by EC Washington
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ryderann

I saw where athletics were headed when I taught at a major university many years ago. Some of the players in my classes failed each semester. After I submitted the grades, who knows what happened. They played.


20 posted on 08/27/2020 10:00:15 AM PDT by Maudeen (Get Ready! (https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Matt.24))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-40 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson