Sports and Social Justice

 Is the NBA and other pro sports leagues:

A: A competitive sport

B: Big business

C: Entertainment

I would fall into the category of A - the NBA and the other pro sports leagues should be first and foremost competitive sports. You play to win the game. The goal of the season is to make the playoffs and for successful franchises the real goal is to win championships. Many want to be naive and believe this is still true but for many sports is also a refuge from the stress and troubles of the real world. That's what makes it so appealing. Rich or poor, black or white, Republican or Democrat, we could all agree on at least pulling for our hometown team. Now that appeal is being flushed down the toilet for politics.

And yes it is politics - not social justice. When the NBA explicitly allows you to have "Black Lives Matter" and other approved social justice messages but not "All Lives Matter" or "Blue Lives Matter" to be printed on official NBA jerseys and gear. And if the argument is that "All Lives Matter" or "Blue Lives Matter" means you're missing the point of young black men and women being killed at the hands of the police then why is "Free Hong Kong" also banned by the NBA? Do yellow lives not matter? Because if that's what you're saying - guess what - you've just become the racist in this argument. It is also not lost on most that the majority of these deaths at the hands of the police seem to be happening in cities that have been run by Democrats for decades yet the outrage is being focused at a Republican President.

If you answered option B that the NBA and other pro sports are big business it would be tough for me to argue with you. I've both accepted and approve of players going to where they get the best deals in free agency. I also understand that the demand for tickets means higher prices. I don't like it but I understand. But I wonder if the NBA understands that attending their games is now beyond the financial reach of most middle class families and especially of black families. Now owners like Mark Cuban seem bent on driving away a large section of the population that can afford to attend games because of politics. I'm lucky in that I can afford to attend games and usually attend a few Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and Patriots games a year but outside of my annual trip to Miami for the Patriots away game - I'm probably now staying away from the other venues for the foreseeable future.

I truly believe "Go Woke Go Broke" is a real thing in the business world. Just ask the CEO of Goodyear. The NBA is also now going to have to fully embrace all that being woke entails which includes zero tolerance for any domestic violence and completely cutting ties to the Chinese Communists. To do anything less will open the NBA up to claims of being hypocrites (which they are). It will be a ever downward spiral. They will learn that you can never be woke enough. 

If you answered option C that the NBA and other pro sports are entertainment then there's a long standing saying in show business that "the show must go on!" How would you feel if you bought tickets for Hamilton but instead of doing the show the cast lectured the audience on identity politics? Now that the NBA players have set a precedent of cancelling games due to the death of a black man at the hands of the police - will they also cancel future games any time this happens again (and it will happen again). To not do so would be hypocritical. And if this threat that other future games might be also be cancelled then the appeal of buying tickets to NBA games just becomes even less attractive. Again it's a downward spiral.   

And finally if Donald Trump wins re-election will all pro games be cancelled in protest on November 4th? Because this is all about politics.