The Pittsburgh Penguins found themselves in an untenable position this week.
The 2017 Stanley Cup champions had a choice to make. They could tour the White House and meet the President of the United States, as previous winners have done, thereby enraging his many vocal detractors. Alternatively, they could skip the event, provoking the same anger at the other end of the political spectrum.
The choice faced by the Pens takes place within a larger debate about the place of politics within sports. Should professional athletes and sports teams use their formidable platforms to argue for political causes, or should they “stay in their lane” and stick to sports?
It’s a bad question, because it starts from a false assumption: that sports are inherently apolitical, and that athletes with particular views are bringing politics into sport. The reality is that the NHL and other professional leagues have long invited politics into their games, and that becomes apparent when we look at the recent flashpoints.
The visit to the White House is an obvious example. It’s a lot of things: a tradition, a status symbol for the league, a perk for the winning team and so on. Above all of those, it’s a publicity exercise. In exchange for the press that comes with visiting the President, the Stanley Cup champion agrees to act as a prop for whomever that happens to be at the moment.
The Pens did their best to downplay that truth in their public statement, which all but screamed that it wasn’t about politics; they were only doing it because it’s one of those things you do. That stance was immediately contradicted by the current President, who seized on the statement to reaffirm his legitimacy:
Please to inform that the Champion Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL will be joining me at the White House for Ceremony. Great team!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
When that legitimacy is under attack — as it is for Donald Trump, as it was with Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — just showing up is a political stance. That’s why Trump was so quick to seize on Pittsburgh’s announcement.
Teams and athletes aren’t bringing politics into sport when they decide to go, or not go, to the White House. Anything they do is political, and the situation is the fault of the league and past champions who were so eager to sign up for a photo opportunity with a politician.
The tradition is longer, and the politics less obvious, but the dynamic is similar when the national anthem is played prior to a sporting event.
There was a time the anthem wasn’t routinely played prior to sporting events. Rather, it became a pre-game tradition in wartime, with World War II generally acknowledged as the point where it became a staple. It never went away after that, and the specific rituals around it became a particular flashpoint during the Vietnam War — where it was used explicitly by the NFL as a way of showing support for that military effort.
The professional sports establishment has often used pregame ritual as a way of making political points — both of the genuine and paid variety. It is less than two years ago that an American senate report came out detailing a marketing campaign by the military which paid sports teams for militaristic and patriotic displays.
Professional sports leagues have long recognized their events as opportunities to make political statements, both out of firm belief and cynical self-interest. Sport isn’t some apolitical zone suddenly thrown into chaos by radical players dragging their beliefs and causes into the mix. Instead, it’s a political venue in which individual players are realizing they don’t have to go along with the status quo preferred by their teams or leagues.
Don’t believe me? As a thought exercise, imagine a world where pro sports teams didn’t visit the White House, one without pregame rituals featuring flags and anthems. There’s no opportunity within such a sport for an athlete to make political statements. He could still talk to reporters or hold events advocating for his particular cause, but those things would happen outside of the actual games.
The point here is not to advocate for that change. It’s simply to say that sporting events are already inherently political. If people really don’t want to hear what athletes think about politics, the simplest solution is probably to stop putting them in politicized situations and expecting them to just go along with them.
***Note that this article is posted across the Nation Network and that comments are an open forum***
For those of you who were not paying attention last year: here is the Coles notes;
-Trump was a terrible candidate for president….
-Clinton was a terrible candidate for president…..
-Sanders was a terrible candidate for president…..
Any questions?
WW
Exactly but people have already forgotten that there choices were dismal.
Racist bigot bully
Crooked liar married to another crooked liar
Dumb dumb
Pick your poison. Will be my one and only comment outside of Hockey talk.
Now back to the upcoming season……
“their choices”
“racist bigot bully”
He’s never said anything racist ever lol.
He’s done so much for the black community he was given an award in the 90’s and he’s only against illegal immigration, not Mexicans them selves
Stop drinking the kool aid
Canada needs a trump.
Yeah maybe a “Trump Lite version” of the man to replace the charismatic tax us to death “Ski Bum” we have to deal with.
No Kool aid here Dude I can form my own opinions without media influence thank you.
I liked the other guy……
Trump was a “terrible candidate” for president…
The stock market has been rising for the last 9 months since he took office… the economy is improving everyday because of the confidence corporations have for Trunp to make the best decisions for the economy
Unemployment is down
Welfare and food stamp usages are down
He’s doing an amazing job, stop believing everything CNN and CBC tells you dude.
..and the USA is more divided than ever – since the Civil War era! Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Because of Obama
lol why do you come here? go to fox network! There, you will find lots of friends, man.
..and Democrats didn’t bother to vote because they had a terrible candidate for president. Well, they got someone worse
Politics is in sports in the sense that athletes are required to be respectful to the flag and anthem — patriotism in its broadest and least controversial terms. When a politician does participate at a sporting event — the PM kicking a football to start of the Grey Cup, for example — it’s seen as honouring the political office rather than the politician.
What sports does avoid, however, are specific endorsements or condemnations of politicians and their policies. That has traditionally been a no-go zone. And for good reason. It respects that fact that fans have wide and varied political allegiances. Sports is saying “It’s not our place to tell you whether your politics are right or wrong.”
Hockey breaks that barrier at its own peril.
All these sheep, waiting with baited breath for the next hate wave coming from CNN and CBC. Anxiously waiting for the talking heads to tell them what to be angry about next.
Trump was wrong to call the players SOB, this is true. He should probably delete Twitter, no question. However, many American’s agree with what he said and many American’s are rightly pissed off.
As for the athletes, you have a first amendment right to say want you want, no question. But the first amendment does not only give you the right to say what you want, but also to hear things you don’t like or agree with. Everyone can agree that if a player flew a confederate flag on the sidelines( His first amendment right?) it would be greatly offensive and everyone would call for that player to be suspended or contract terminated (rightly so). Kneeling for the anthem is the same idea, it is greatly offensive to many people, hence why people are calling for the boycott of the NFL. You have a right to speak and protest as you like…. be prepared for the consequence and backlash when you do.
Exercising your first amendment right isn’t against the law.
However someone in a public position like the Presidency encouraging private business owners to fire their employees over some perceived slight is. (Ever hear the phrase ‘Abuse of power’?). If the Republican congress had any spine Trump would be getting a vote of censure at the very least.
Make America Great Again = Make the Trumps Great Again.
Make America Great Again = Make America White Again. So much of Trump’s support is from rednecks, gun toting NRA members.
I have no issues whether athletes decide to stand or take a knee for the purposes of protesting / supporting / continuing their normal routines.
If Colin Kaepernick wants to sit during the Star Spangled Banner, fine.
If prior to a race NASCAR drivers stand, or prior to a President’s Cup match golfers stand for the anthem, fine.
If Jerry Jones wants to lock arms and take a knee, but then stands once the music starts, fine.
If Johnny Gaudreau wants to stand when guest singer starts belting out “Oh say can you see,” but takes a knee when George Canyon begins “O Canada,” I’ll raise my eyebrow (maybe he think Justin’s still not ready, or the amount he’s being taxed, or that he’s relegated to possibly playing in an aging Saddledome for the forseeable future).
The point is, as very eloquently worded by Mr. Willis, is that politics has always been in sports to some capacity. These past few days have only amplified that relationship due to the actions of one politician / businessman and the response of many athletes, sports teams, owners, businesses, etc. I’m not American, but I can certainly understand why they would want to exercise one of their rights that they dearly to: the First Amendment. Just as their President can state his opinion on the largest social media platform, Athletes can state their opinion on another platform.
It is unfortunate that this topic is only further polarizing individuals and possibly making some people choose a side. I just hope that we all come out of these interesting times as better people individually and collectively, whether we’re Canadian, American, French, Syrian, Korean (whether you’re from Pyongyang or Pyeongchang).
Yes I know it’s a fluff post full of optimism. I’m hoping for the best, but maybe still will plan for the worst. But while some current National Anthem actions are taking heavy criticism, I still remember other National Anthem actions not too long ago that were being praised (see Preds fans singing O Canada as a return thanks to Leafs Fans, Oilers fans helping out Brett Kissel with his wonky mic during the Star Spangled Banner). Not all National Anthem incidents end so badly…
A player/coach can’t be truthful about the terrible officiating of their games without getting fined but yet can spout whatever they want about anything else and there are no consequences. Maybe the NHL should get rid of the fines for players speaking the truth about the game and clean up the mess they created by not letting the problems be voiced in the first place.
Truth or a lie test : Canada does not constitutionally exist to this day and the federal government has no constitutional right to exist to this day because of it . Yet you and I have been taught from cradle to grave that The BNA act and it’s founders formed the country known as Canada , when they actually voted against it . Each province is still it’s own country with allegiance to the British crown until such time as we form the country of Canada .
Guess you weren’t around in 1982 for the Canada Act when our country assumed responsibility and governance of its own constitution…
That did not change a thing as we are still basically under The Statutes of Westminster , until the premiers can agree 100% on forming Canada . Same question was posed to Mulroney and Pierre Trudeau , yet they basically failed to produce a resolution to solve the problem . Provinces have in unity still passed such legislation such as Bill Of Rights , Canada Act , etc., and other legislation they have all agreed upon despite not finalizing the forming of Canada as a legal and constitutional nation .
You never studied….
Of course politics are in sports. How else do you explain the last 25 Stanley Cup champs being American teams? Or that the Coyotes are still where they are when they should’ve been shipped out a decade ago?
I think I’m racist against the Calgary Flames. OILERS RULE!!!
I wish Americans would read “Democracy in America” (1835) by Alexis de Tocqueville and do some self-reflecting.
Great article by Willis here. He didn’t specifically mention Trump in it but you can’t ignore the fact that this latest supposed controversy is a direct result of the Tweeter-in-chief disrespecting the first amendment rights of the citizens he took an oath to protect.
It goes beyond racism or sexism or any other ‘ism’… There are a ton of really good people who got swindled into supporting this professional con-man. The snake oil was in good supply last year and there were a lot of people drinking it.
Here we are though – eight months into his corrupt and incompetent presidency. If After all he has done, and all the dereliction of the things a president is supposed to do, you find yourself still supporting him … then you are just as horrible a person as he is. And Trump is the President that you deserve.
It’s just too bad that the rest of the world is on this nightmare plunge with you.
“He didn’t specifically mention Trump in it”
did you read the article?!
WW
I Stand corrected. He was briefly mentioned in one paragraph. Thanks for the utterly important (and completely irrelevant to my comments) update.
Keep politics out of the NHL. Sportnet 650 was so left wing it was unbearable to listen to after the kneeling event. Let’s keep left and right wing politics out of our Hockey
I agree with Willis that sports are inherently political due to the rituals they have adopted over the years. However, I think the issue here is the extent to which they are politicized. It seems like anyone with an account on a social media platform can now express faux-outrage towards any athlete who associates with a politician with views that differ from theirs, and the media then recycles the chatter to fill their daily quota of tabloid news. The result is even further politicization of sports when the silent majority (assuming there is one) just want to enjoy sports and keep the moral judgements and political circus out of it.
I will premiss my comments with stating that I have never really understood why national anthem are played at North American sporting events. Throughout the rest of the world national anthems are not played other than when national teams are representing their country.
To me the question is whether a player has the right to use the sporting event to express their own views. They are getting paid to play sport, should they be doing anything else? If one were to say they should not be expressing such opinions, would this also include athletes expressing religious outlooks, such ad pointing to the sky after a triumph? My
I find the anthems annoying and agree 1000000% that it should occur only when national teams compete.
Remove the National anthems from professional sporting events. This will remove the particular platform that these morons are standing on,.. Or not Standing on as it were. They can feel free to take a knee, link arms with their teammates and owners, pose a “Black Power” salute, or what ever they want during the game.
Before the slings and arrows get broken out to be hurled at me for calling these losers “morons” in my post, just remember, if you support them, you are supporting their freedom to express their opinion and to demonstrate peacefully.
I am simply exercising my right to express my opinion of the people doing that.
This is the truth
http://takimag.com/article/tackling_race_steve_sailer#axzz4tyyIeb36