Strike Three
Major League Baseball returned last night…or so I’m told. Having gotten along pretty well so far this year without sports on TV, I frankly had little interest in “opening day”, even though the team I have followed since before I started kindergarten, the New York Yankees, were playing. (By the way, I was no bandwagon fan…the Yankees had been mired in multiple losing seasons when I got my first team ball cap. But that’s another story.)
I’ve sampled NASCAR, because what you see on TV is pretty much the same…cars, noise from cars…the fans aren’t a part of the telecast. Baseball would be different, with no crowd noise or reaction. It didn’t seem real enough, for lack of a better phrase, so I wasn’t really interested.
Then I saw some pre-game photos on social media, with plenty of players wearing t-shirts with political slogans. That sealed it. I’d find something else to do. I heard later that every coach and every player on both the Yankees and Washington Nationals took a knee…and that Black Lives Matter was stenciled on the pitchers mound and on the outfield wall…let’s just say I still don’t know who won, and frankly, I don’t care.
Here’s why…I don’t care what the political statement is…they could have stenciled Make America Great Again on the mound and I’d feel the same way. To me…and I think to most people..sports is a form of entertainment, a way to escape. Same with music and concerts. Those participating can take whatever political stands they want, on their own time. But when I’m paying for a ticket, I want the entertainment, not a political message.
Laura Ingraham wrote a book about 17 years ago on the topic, appropriately enough titled “Shut Up And Sing”…meaning enough political jabs in between songs at concerts where I’m paying lots of cash to be entertained…just shut up and sing. Give me your political views, if you must, off the stage.
So it is for me here…with baseball, the NFL, the NBA…all of them. I don’t expect the person I hire to fix my plumbing to make a political statement at work…same with other performers. Speak all you want…just on your own time, when you’re not at work.
For me, I’ve got a lot of free time coming up, now that watching sports on TV is ruined.
