Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports had some thoughts about the idea of using sports as an escape, deciding that people who don’t want their games to be flooded with political messaging are actually losers.
“What are you escaping? If your life needs regular escaping — maybe some of that shit is on you,” Cowherd said. “Maybe? Just some? The solution to an unfulfilled life, is often just mirror.”
“Sports is an escape for me”. What are you escaping? If your life needs regular escaping — maybe some of that shit is on you. Maybe? Just some? The solution to an unfulfilled life, is often just mirror.
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) September 5, 2020
Aside from the fact that Cowherd is paid to say stupid things as the television equivalent of clickbait and that his entire career as a sports pundit is predicated on escapism, he misunderstands what it means for sports to be an escape.
When people say that sports are an escape, they don’t mean that their lives are miserable and that they must regularly tune out of them. In part, it simply means that general everyday stresses such as work or paying rent are briefly tuned out for a couple of hours for sports. After all, not everyone is fortunate enough to make $6 million a year talking about sports for a living.
But more importantly, people want their sports to be an escape from the unceasing encroachment of politics on everyday life. You can’t avoid it watching the news, and now, businesses and corporations feel that they must weigh in on each and every social and political movement in the country. Sports is one of the last forms of entertainment that hasn’t allowed itself to be consumed by politics, as Hollywood, television, and the music industry have.
Sports has been the last holdout in the progressive campaign to make the entirety of life political. It’s one of the basic pillars of our society, one of the few aspects of our culture that transcends state lines, race, politics, and any other of the natural or artificial differences between people in the United States.
Now, the focus of sports is shifting from what happens on the field to what happens off of it. The NFL is promising to put “social justice” first and foremost when its season starts. Major League Baseball has followed its lead, though at a slower pace, while the NBA has become politically toxic. Even the NHL has relented, being bullied into postponing games in “solidarity.”
When you tell people they can’t escape politics in sports, then they turn their politics into sports. Conversations at parties or family gatherings shift from sports to politics, and when their politics start to reflect their sports fandom, you don’t compromise with the Dallas Cowboys; you try to destroy them. When the Cowboys become Republicans or Democrats, we’re all worse off for it.
