Should Coaches and Players Get Involved in Politics?

Football, Basketball, Baseball, and even Golf are all sports that people watch to get their mind away from everything else. Like politics for example. I read, watch, and talk about politics for a living. When I sit down to watch a football game, I do not want to have to worry about politics. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case in most sports. 

The NFL has had a problem with politics for a long time. It became a big issue that really hurt the NFL when Colin Kaepernick decided to start kneeling on the sideline during the National Anthem to support Black Lives Matter. I am not going to go into the politics of BLM, but it pushed a lot of NFL viewers away from the sport. When I see someone kneel for the National Anthem, it makes me cringe. I do not want to cringe when watching a football game. 

I also get tired of players, coaches, and even actors thinking that their political views are more important than another person's. In other words, we should believe something just because an inarticulate actor thinks it is right. It is narcissistic and they can keep it to themselves. 

Now we have a problem with a major college football coach, Nick Saban of Alabama, getting involved in the new voting legislation that the US Senate is trying to pass right now. Colleges have been political, but it hasn’t been a part of college sports for the most part. Nick Saban signed a letter that is going to Joe Manchin to tell him to pass a National Voting law to stop states like Texas and Georgia from having racist state laws. What in the law is racist? Does he even know what the senate is trying to do? Probably not, but I guess it makes him feel better, and he knows best because he is Nick Saben. 

I want to make myself clear, Nick Saben has the right to his opinions. But Let’s keep politics out of sports. When you bring politics into the game, you are ruining the sport for those that want to just enjoy the game. If I wanted politics, I would watch the news.