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October 29, 2004
Selective Amnesia
My TiVo picked up HBO's Real Sports last night, and I had intended to write something about Bryant Gumbel's monologue on sports and politics that ended the show, but Charles Austin beat me to it. And Charles, in Gumbel's world, Pat Tillman doesn't count.
Eric
03:34 PM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsThat's probably spot on about Tillman. Oh, and did you see that Schilling didn't take back what he said, but did say that it isn't his place to say something like that unsolicited on television? Posted by: at October 29, 2004 03:38 PM As everyone knows, you can only be politcally active and responsible if you speak out from the left. If you speak from the right as an athlete, you will get villified by the media and torn apart. See: Eminem. Guy writes lyrics about killing his girlfriend and calling homosexuals "fags" and everyone is up in arms. But the moment the guy makes an anti-Bush video, he's everyone's hero. He's "thought-provoking". Schilling probably realized what he was opening himself up to and decided no, thanks. Can't say I blame him. He did more than 99% of others by saying what he said on the Today show. Posted by: at October 29, 2004 04:03 PM I don't think Eminem writing lyrics about killing his girlfriend is from the right - if anything, freedom of speech and non-censorship is a left issue. While the politics of Bush involved is a left issue, all his previous things were probably bashed fully from the right and separated on the left between what he was saying, and his right to say it. Anyway, athletes nowadays don't speak out about much because no one wants to hear it. They're not the average guy (or gal) anymore or anywhere close to it. Most people will say "who cares what some millionaire athelete thinks". Also - endorsements - who wants to lose out on those because of political statements few want to hear in the first place? You say one wrong thing and you lose your multi-million deal with Nike, Reebok, etc. They're not going to risk losing that. Posted by: at October 29, 2004 04:45 PM Tillman's a little too complex a guy to wedge into "speaking from the right." Or from the left, as far as I can tell. He knew he wanted to fight for his country. I don't think that makes him right-wing; I don't assume he was left-wing. He was a person. Great article here on the guy. And... Tillman didn't speak out, which is part of what makes him so special. He just did what he had to do. He explicitly didn't take a political stand -- wouldn't be interviewed about it, didn't want to be a big deal. He just wanted to fight for his country. Posted by: at October 29, 2004 05:55 PM Lots of caricatures in this thread. Posted by: at October 29, 2004 10:11 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |