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Prager 5 Minute Videos

Get Politics Out of Sports

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Sports is the great unifier. It brings people of all races and backgrounds together. Or at least, it did. Podcaster and writer Jason Whitlock worries that when politics win, sports fans lose.

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Script:

Pro sports has become woke sports. And that’s a problem—not just for athletics, but for all of us. 

“Sport has the power . . . to unite people in a way that little else does. .  . It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

Nelson Mandela spoke those words. The Nobel Peace Prize recipient understood the power of sports to bring disparate people together. There is no better example of this than the famous victory of South Africa’s mixed-race team in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela’s presentation of the winner’s trophy to team captain Francois Pienaar stands as an iconic symbol of unity in post-apartheid South Africa. 

Sports have served as a powerful racial unifier in America as well. This is not new. It goes back decades. 

In 1936, the great black sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics. In 1938, the great black boxer, Joe Louis, scored a first-round knockout over German heavyweight Max Schmeling. The Owens and Louis victories punctured Hitler’s Aryan superiority myth, unified black and white Americans in pride and celebration, and established Owens and Louis as America’s first black national heroes.

Jesse Owens and Joe Louis laid the foundation for Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey’s partnership with black baseball legend Jackie Robinson to integrate Major League Baseball in the late 1940s. That, in turn, inspired Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s. Barack Obama credited Robinson for his political rise. “There’s a direct line between Jackie Robinson and me standing here,” said America’s first black president. 

Obama saw what Mandela saw—how sports transcends all barriers: “When you see this group of folks of different shades . . . coming from different communities . . . and then playing as one team . . . and celebrating each other and being joyous in that, that tells us . . . something about . . . America.” Sports, in other words, is the ultimate equalizer. 

In competition, what matters is winning. That means excellence matters. And both are colorblind. Sports allow us to experience the power of pure meritocracy—the only way to govern sports, and the only way to govern life.

But now, all this storied history and the positive message of sports are being undone. In September 2016, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee—that is, refused to stand—during the national anthem. His defenders say his protest wasn’t about the flag. But Kaepernick said otherwise. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he told the press. We all know what happened next. Players across the NFL followed Kaepernick’s lead, kneeling, locking arms, and even raising fists during the national anthem. Then athletes from other sports joined in.

Ironically, just as sports has the power to unite, we have discovered it also has equal power to divide. 

On Opening Day 2021, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred stripped Atlanta of the All Star Game as punishment for Georgia politicians’ passage of a voter integrity bill. Bowing to the political mob that casts half of America as racist, the move fractured baseball’s fan base.

The entire American sports world—a culture that celebrated victors, colorblindness, and patriotism—has immersed itself in victimization and left-wing radicalism. This immersion threatens permanent damage, both to American sports and to the larger American culture.

For the complete script as well as FACTS & SOURCES, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/get-politics-out-of-sports

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Tags Athleticsbaseballblmchinacivil rights movementcolin kaepernickdodgersglobalismheroesHong KongJackie Robinsonjason whitlockkaepernicklebron JamesMartin Luther kingmeritocracyMLBmlknational anthemnational heroesnbanelson MandelaNFLnikeobamaolympicsoppressionpolitics and sportsprager universitypragerupro athletesracial unityrosa parksrugbySouth Africasports and politicssports commentarytake a kneevictimizationwoke sports
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44 Comments

  5. YEAH I WONDER LATVIA BEAT NHL USA AND FRANCE BASKETBALL??? IS TAHT GHOST PROTOCOL??? LIKE 2011 KLEIZA INJURY AND ATTACK ON IGNALINA WHICH COST LITHUANIA TRILLION DOLLAR DAMAGES 50=100YERAS BIGGEST POWWER STSTION IN THE WORLD= IM GONNA STRIKE BACK DESTORYING BOEING NOW BIGGEST USA COMPANY FOR EKRANAS BURNING 2012

  6. you really think that the national anthem at every sports isn't political? that it only becomes political when someone doesn't pay reverence to a song glorifying a country? if i were to go to a game and when the national anthem is blaring i pull out a boombox and try to over power it with the Dutch anthem would that not be a political move? if yes, why? after all, it's just the national anthem. this is just denying that what do is equally political so you can accuse others of making everything political. honestly it shows you think very little of your supporters, assuming they don't understand that you're pulling a fast on on them.
    but i'm sure that this reply will also be deleted. how else will you maintain an echo chamber?

  7. 0:21 While I agree with this point, it is impossible to separate politics from sport. It is difficult to simply explain why this is without discussing the thousands of years were politics and religion played in sports and immersed in self as one. The ancient Greeks used religion in sports, the ancient Romans, use social politics in their martial athletics to entertain the masses & now in the modern era, we use politics, in sport to showcase or to prove something. I took two classes on the history of the Olympic Games at my college, and it was incredibly interesting to learn how much religion and politics intermingled with sports, especially at the global level. Yes, sport can be overwhelmed with politics, but we can also try to just see the spirit of athletics. I know I said it is impossible to separate sport from politics, but we can always try.
    What are your thoughts?

  10. oh stfu, 99.9% of people saying shit like “keep politics out of sports” wouldn’t say shit like this if most athletes were conservatives, and i love the fact that u picked the 2 most worst examples u can possibly use for “keep politics out of sports” and completely left out critical information such as jesse owens not being accepted by most white americans 💀

  12. Sportsman should have the right to protest what they please, especially if it's a deeply hurtful event in our history. Yes, there is a leftist narrative and tons of misinformation about police brutality in black neighborhoods and that misinformation should be stopped, but we cannot blame the sportsman for us not doing our part, or for the existence of the misinformation. There were so many videos at the time circulating around that showed innocent black men and boys being manhandled and sometimes shot at by police and Colin K wanted to protest something that is wrong. That is his right. That said, I agree with the overall message of this video and think that the power of sports and music to bring us all together is being stripped away due to the craziness from leftist propaganda. I honestly don't know what the perfect solution is, but if anyone would like to expand on this topic on my podcast, let me know!

  13. Great video Jason. I’ve always enjoyed your opinions for years on espn, back when I watched espn. Yes u put it so well. And hit on a point I never really considered. Simply sports used to be the great unifier. Bringing people of all creeds together through the shared love of the game. But when they allowed the politics to take it over sports are now divisive. I no longer watch or support any of the 3 major professional sports. My beef has never been with the players necessarily. Ball players are generally knuckleheads. But the owners and organizations let it happen and I can’t forgive that. U don’t, DO NOT bring your politics to the field, to the court, to the ring. Ali knew it. Jim Brown and Bill Russel did too.

  20. "Politics is like football for me. Labour is my team and even if you don't like a striker you don't give up supporting the whole team. Labour is the lesser of two evils. What else should we have? Anarchy? Someone has to be responsible"
    Noel Gallagher of Oasis

  33. Sadly, not so much with the Tokyo Olympics & the coming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Simple, the evil side of China, particularly Xi Jinping's CCP. Sports in those events did not unite, but only renew or retain tensions. Don't forget the Taiwan naming.

  34. “On opening day 2021, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred stripped Atlanta of the All-Star Game as punishment for Georgia politicians’ passage of a voter integrity bill.” Who’s here after Atlanta’s getting the World Series?