As someone who has been a cultural writer for almost 40 years and writes this sports/culture blog, I was not surprised to hear that the acting editor in chief of Deadspin, Barry Petchesky, was fired by the sports website’s new management for not “sticking to sports” in the site’s content. (The rest of the staff resigned.)
We all know what sticking to sports means for athletes and the writers who cover them. It means keeping your political beliefs to yourself. But people don’t stop being people when they become artists, athletes or celebrities. We’re all entitled to our opinions. The question then becomes should artists and athletes or anyone with a public platform use that forum to express sociopolitical beliefs that have nothing to do with their artistry or athleticism.
I’ve had this conversation many times with my conservative uncle, a big sports fan who views sports as “entertainment.” He doesn’t want to see Colin Kaepernick, who’s finally going to get a chance to audition in effect for 13 NFL teams Nov. 16, kneeling during The National Anthem to underscore police brutality against people of color. Undoubtedly, my uncle doesn’t have a problem with Washington Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki wearing a MAGA hat during the World Series champs’ visit to the White House. Others, however, do.
And that brings us to the speciousness of sticking to sports in a global, digital age. Perhaps at one time athletes could be neutral and close-mouthed. But today they find themselves in politics’ crosshairs without doing or saying anything thanks to the 24/7 news cycle. On Dec. 22 of last year, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were scheduled to play each other in the King Salman Tennis Championship in Saudi Arabia, one of many exhibitions for charity that they have played worldwide over the course of what may be tennis’ best rivalry to date.
But the two found themselves caught up in the fallout from the brutal murder of dissident Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of his fellow Saudi Arabians months before. The tournament had been set long before Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 killing. But in light of it, playing in Saudi Arabia would’ve given a seal of approval to a society whose highest reaches have been implicated in the crime. In the end, the match never happened due to a Nadal injury that was, shall we say, suspiciously timely and convenient.
At the time, Djokovic said it was unfortunate the two players were being pulled into the controversy, but that’s the point. It doesn’t matter whether or not athletes express an opinion or are moved to action. The contexts in which they find themselves in a global society — one in which it’s never been easier to connect the dots — will often make it seem as if they have taken a stand, even when they’ve done nothing at all.