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Sports provide relief from escape, oasis, and the anxiety and troubles of daily life. Of course, there is competition. It also has encouraging certainty.
Winners and losers of clear cuts. The score is meticulously maintained. Rules and boundaries are moderated and maintained as firmly and accurately as the choked third baseline.
In short, none of the compromises or troublesome ambiguity of everyday life is part of the appeal or part of the fantasy.
And it’s fantasy to try and divorce sports from events that unfold beyond the comfort of the stadium and arena, sometimes horrifying.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and the team’s proper response to the immigration attacks will terrify the large strip of their fanbase.
One of Southern California’s most respected (and profitable) institutions, the team fell amid rising public protests last week, violating $1 million to help families affected by the Trump administration’s powerful immigration policy. Further initiatives the organization has promised were on the way.
Escape from reality has been so far.
“Sports is political,” said Jules Boykov, a former professional soccer player-turned political scientist. “And to deny it is to deny reality.”
Amy Bass, professor of sports studies at Manhattanville University and author of many works on the subject, agreed.
“Sports is part of our cultural, political, social and economic landscape,” Bass said. “It’s an industry that pays people. It’s an industry that entertains people. It’s an industry that expresses our biggest and most tragic moments.
“There’s nothing,” she said. “You can’t speak through the lens of sports.”
Or, in some cases, scream and argue.
The Dodgers’ gestures were too little, too late. If you do, you are not forced error.
“It’s the best way to explain how the young boys acted,” wrote Gustavo Arerano, a colleague on my pillar:
The Dodgers were enthusiastically ambiguous in the announcement of their surrender, ER and $1 million well-meaning payments last week. There is far less condemnation of the atrocities that ICE used in some of its enforcement actions. There is no mention of parents who are separated from their children. There was no recognition of innocent people, including American citizens, who were wiped out by some of the Trump administration’s indiscriminate assaults.
“Thousands of people have echoed over thousands of people what’s going on in Los Angeles,” said team president Stan Kasten in his masterpiece of opaque and e-music representation. “We believe that by committing resources and taking action, we will continue to support and elevate the Greater Los Angeles community.”
But really, is it a surprise that the team ducks first and then seeks cover in such a platito?
As we don’t forget, the Dodgers, like all other professional sports franchises, are business first and foremost. Michael Jordan may have cited a quote that was famously attributed to him as “Republicans also buy sneakers” as a reason for professional athletes and their team to avoid politics. But it speaks overwhelmingly to the ultimate truthfulness of the world of sports.
Put another way, yes, the Dodgers support a substantial reward in the Latino community, which is highly besieged. But Trump fans also fill in many seats and buy many Dodger dogs.
Honestly, how many people rooted in the Dodgers, or sports franchises, are they willing to create moral highlands when it means winning seasons and championships? Ultimately, righteousness is not reflected in the rankings.
So, what are community-based, profit-seeking sports organizations?
The day-to-day spiraling downwards event may have left the Dodgers with almost no choice.
“The more people are affected, the more I should not say I am affected but traumatized by what is happening on the streets of LA and LA… This has given the Dodgers far less room to try a shimmy without saying anything.” “In many ways, the situation forced their hands.”
So, the weight of the tissues was, sooner or later, slimy – few people were happy or satisfied.
I was a little surprised there.
If we’re looking for the bright side, this is probably the case. Perhaps instead of pretending to exist in a pristine, politically-free void of sports, we can acknowledge the centrality of everyday life and at least find a common ground for debate and debate, if not commonality.
“We can talk about history, we can talk about economics, we can talk about social change,” Bass said. “We can talk about how sports actually move political needles.”
Of course, at the stadium. But in the stands, sports bars, tailgate parties, talk radios, wherever fans of various fabrics gather.
“The more we realize that,” Bass said. “You can see that the sport can actually provide this landscape to have a very difficult conversation through places that bring many kinds of people into the same space.”
At such a deep and enduring point of division, it may seem far away. But what is sports, if not hope and desire?
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