March 15, 2020 on Sacred Pages new york times, I just published one of the most ridiculous things I've ever written. (And there are many contenders for that title.) Four days after the fateful night of March 11 when the NBA shut down, then-President Trump snorted about COVID-19 in the Oval Office. , gave a speech that was full of mistakes and gave no reassurance at all. And now that we all know Tom Hanks is sick, I (and I should say others) worry that the sport itself is in some kind of existential crisis. Did. If you promise to be kind to me, I'll quote my own words.
[N]It's anyone's guess when the game will be played again. And even if they do return, whether the world of sports can fully recover remains an open question. I suspect it will never be exactly the same.
Believe it or not, it worked. In fact, I think you could say that sports in general are booming in a way that hasn't been seen in decades. Nearly all professional and college leagues, including Major League Baseball, have seen dramatic increases in television ratings in the last year, and most leagues are moving toward a world of television and streaming that makes sports advertising dollars more important than ever. is in an advantageous position. The NBA playoffs are as thrilling as they have been in years. (Bang!van! ). The NFL Draft is a multi-hour game watched by tens and tens of millions of people, with big men in awkward suits reading names out of Excel spreadsheets. College football has become so popular that it has fundamentally and permanently changed the way athletics play on college campuses. And perhaps most excitingly, women's sports are exploding, with more people watching women's basketball than men. People are even optimistic about the Olympics this summer, but people are far from optimistic about the Olympics. You can make a very strong case that we are at the peak of the sport right now.
It's also because sports are great and people (and Buck Bennett's voiced buffalo) enjoy watching great things. But I believe the main reason for this is that sports are serving their primary purpose of serving as a distraction from the outside world especially well at the moment. No matter how much time my fellow Knicks fans and I spend helping our team make the playoffs, sports aren't really all that important to our lives. That's why it's so much fun to be passionate about sports. Sports is ultimately an innocuous place to put it all. The emotions, hopes, and anxieties that we struggle with every day. I'm happy when my team wins, and sad when my team loses. That's pure. There is nothing else like it in the world. This is why sports are the perfect pastime. A distraction from despair, a distraction from boredom, a distraction from loneliness, a distraction from the fact that someday you and I and everyone we know will die.the more people there are need The more you distract them, the more they turn to sports.
And if there's one thing people have said loud and clear over and over again in this election year, it's that they want a distraction.
Countless polls show that, despite, or perhaps because of, its almost paralyzing importance, Americans are significantly less interested in this presidential election than they were in the last. There is. This can certainly be confirmed anecdotally. The easiest way to surprise almost everyone in my life is to bring up something about the election, the Trump trial, or politics. (And I live in a swing state!) In many ways, such studied indifference essentially returns us to a world where we don't have to think about politics every 30 seconds. It's a sign of one of President Biden's signature campaign promises. , it's not like everyone gives him credit for it. But it's the apathy that Americans are determined to cling to, for better or worse. This is in stark contrast to 2020, which was the most politically active year in sports history. No sports league is avoiding the state because of the law. (After a big fuss four years ago, the MLB All-Star Game will be held again in Georgia next year.) LeBron James is not hosting a rally for Joe Biden. His athlete advocacy organization, More Than A Vote, no longer exists. Rock was silent. The league, the teams, the players…they all walk away from that situation.
This makes them unusual. This makes them just like the rest of us. The urge to tune out is completely normal, as is why the sport is here in the first place. And as someone who believes this election is far more important than the last one, or any election in my life, I have to admit that I can see that too. I remember covering the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016. bloomberg politics, I was at Quicken Loans Arena when Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination with an apocalyptic speech so horrifying it made me sick to my stomach. After such a campaign and such an overwhelming speech, all I could think the next morning was: Wow, me Really I want to watch a baseball game right now. I longed to escape the world that Trump was starting to take over. I just wanted to go somewhere for a few hours where I could pretend nothing had happened.
The slogan “Stick to Sports” has always been ridiculous.Sports and politics cannot be separated because they cannot be separated. anything From politics. Every aspect of sports is influenced by politics, from the national anthem before a game to the funding of the stadium where you watch the game to the paycheck of the person who buys your hot dog. However, more than any other field, sports fantasy That you are experiencing something outside of the realm of politics. And that is a very desirable and useful illusion at this time.
Not only do I understand this urge, I actually think it's healthy. It's not healthy to have your hair constantly on fire. There are still more than six months until the election. Polls are trending in a more positive direction. Trump has already stolen a lot of our energy and attention. It's no wonder so many people don't want to give him more. Really, it's okay. Even though the NBA playoffs are over, the World Series is over, everyone has left the Paris Olympics, and November has arrived, we all have to remember to put our eyes back on the ball and take our eyes off the ball. You can't stop watching now.
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