Last night I saw an Associated Press article about a blog post Portland Trailblazers rookie center Greg Oden made about his decision to support Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
I don't blame him. It's not like he's going to come out now and support Hillary, who's only lost about half the Union in a row at this point.
Of course, I know the real reason this made the news: most athletes don't say anything politically. That's partly because they don't want to spark controversy and potentially lose endorsements but, I suspect, more because they don't want to deal with the headaches of all the publicity that would come along with speaking their minds.
Think about it. When Hollywood people come out in support of some political issue, most people yawn and think they're idiots. Well, the same goes for athletes, except you add on the idea that everyone thinks they cheated their way through their education. Occasionally you'll get a Steve Nash type who wants the world to appreciate how well-rounded he is. (Nash spoke out early against the Iraq War, which he believed was a war solely for oil.) But who really wants to go out and try to guard Shaquille O'Neal in front of thousands all night, then answer probing questions about his political philosophy right afterwards? (Oden, as he jokes in his blog, is currently free of any game responsibilities because of microfracture knee surgery.)
Sports reporters often look back on the good old days and point out that a) no athletes take a controversial stand anymore, and b) no athlete has a cool nickname anymore. I love it when a sportswriter complains about the dearth of good nicknames for modern athletes. Um, hey frigtard, don't you think maybe you're the one who should be doing something about that?
Anyway, I think it's kind of cool that Oden did this. I don't think a blog post represents some idiot abusing his fame, and besides, all Oden really does is in the end of his post is encourage young people to vote. It really makes me wonder if we'll see more of this as the election year goes on. What do you think about athletes speaking out on politicians or political issues?
3 comments:
I actually think there might be another reason athletes don't speak out more on political issues - like most Americans (including many successful, wealthy Americans), they may not have strong political views one way or the other. So it may not be realistic to expect more of them to comment on political affairs.
I am also not convinced that athletes of previous eras wouold be more political if they were around today. In the first place, we remember the athletes who were more politically active or had cooler nicknames and forget about the rest. Moreover, more athletes had a personal stake in politics back then, because many of them had overcome social and political barriers (i.e., racism and segregation) to make it to the top. Almost all politics is personal, and today's athletes don't face political obstacles to their athletic advancement in nearly the same way.
That said, I approve of any person espousing an intelligent view on politics, athlete or otherwise, and it sounds like Oden did just that. And he should be commended for trying to influence his fans to do something productive like vote.
And I agree that sportswriters are to blame for the lack of good nicknames. They have no creativity anymore.
Nowadays it seems that informed voters are becoming more and more of a rarity. It seems like so many people are afraid of being confrontational, or concerned with being P.C. that the subject of politics is rarely discussed. I think that is just the opposite of what needs to happen these days. We as Americans should be discussing politics more than any other issue with anyone and everyone, and especially with those who don't share our own political views. Talking politics with our friends, co-workers, and family is the best way for us to learn about different viewpoints without getting them from biased sources.
As public figures I think some athletes might be worried about ostracizing some of their fans by publicly supporting political figures. Some athletes, on the other hand, are too narcissistic to give a rat's a about what's going on in politics.
So, if Greg Oden is willing to publicly support Obama this will hopefully encourage those who read his blog to try to learn more about Obama and the other candidates. I agree with John that Oden should be commended for his willingness to stand up for what he believes in and most importantly, encourage others to do the same.
Blaine, you sound like a Get Out the Vote commercial. Just saying. For a variety of reasons, I do expect people to be thinking about/discussing this year's election more than any in a while; certainly more than most did in 2004. Now as to whether those discussions will include educated opinions...that I'm not so sure about.
John, you bring up great points, and I especially like the one about only the more politically-active athletes being remembered.
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