Week 7 Reading Response
Should sportswriters follow the “stick to sports” mentality?
Part One
On Thursday, we read several articles analyzing the crossover of politics into the sportswriting profession — especially liberal politics.
The readings by Curtis and Kang tracked this evolution of political advocacy seeping into the sports world. Curtis, in particular, analyzed the treatment of Lester Rodney — one of the first sportswriters to involve politics in his articles — in the 1930s and the juxtaposition of modern day sportswriting.
Unfortunately, in the 1930s, Rodney’s politically influenced writing was not welcomed in the sportsworld. Many believed that politics and sports should remain separate; especially, if those views were liberal.
Nowadays, it is commonplace for sportswriters to discuss the political undertones surrounding the sports community.
One of the aspects we discussed in class was the distinction between opinion and argument. Many critics of political sportswriting have concerns with the fact that the most common political influence we see in sports columns is liberal politics — we rarely hear from conservative sportswriters. Another complaint is that the pieces are not argumentative but opinion-based; thus, lacking deep thought, analysis and research to back up their claims. Though I disagree with the critics, I do think that many sportswriters are focused on getting that intriguing headline — not always the content or the research backing up their stories.
Part Two
The current state of our society is extremely politically divided. Younger generations’ progressive political viewpoints are clashing with older conservative ideals and social media is just intensifying the already hostile tension between the two parties.
With social media being so prevalent in our lives, I feel that athletes, sportswriters, team owners, coaches, etc. are held to a higher standard as they have platforms to discuss the topics many of us try to ignore. I feel that athletes in particular have more of a responsibility to use their fame to discuss these important issues.
Additionally, sports are synonymous with our society.
It is hard to separate politics from a heavily socially constructed industry that reflects our society. Politics represent our lives and, thus, sportswriters have an obligation, or expectation, to discuss these issues and bring attention to social injustices that are apparent in both our society and the sports community. They are one in the same.
