Politics in Sport and Sport in Politics

   Generally speaking, I think people should stick to talking about subjects in which they are relative experts.  For example, I would certainly not ask my plumber for advice on the stock market.  Conversely, I would not ask my accountant for advice on how to fix a regurgitating toilet.  This is why I cringe a little bit every time a football player is asked for his opinions on the current issues of the day such as foreign policy or the economy.  While I do believe that everyone should have a general knowledge base and be able to present themselves as alert and aware individuals, this does not mean that everyone has to be the ultimate authority on everything.  Therefore, as a general rule, politicians and elite athletes should operate in different spheres. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.  In Dr. Hunt’s article about the Cold War and Sports, we see politicians getting involved in sports in many different areas.  Specifically during this time period, many members of the United States Government pushed for international athletic success so that they could beat the “commies” at something.  While many of the policies enacted by the federal government have undoubtedly had a positive impact on the success of our athletes in competitions at home and abroad, they linked politics and sports in ways that have affected each ever since.  Since the Amateur Sports Act was enacted to beat the “commies”, the US (along with other world nations) has also used the Olympic Games as a platform for politics.  The most obvious example of this was when the US boycotted the 1980 Montreal Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  In addition, the government has been intimately involved with various doping issues that have come up over the last 40 years.  As a result of all of this intermingling, I guess that it’s really no surprise that athletes feel that they have the authority to comment on matters of the government.  If a 65 year old Senator from Mississippi can comment on how an NFL running back does his job, then it stands to reason that the running back could comment on how the senator does his job.