Sports Reporters Can Help Save this Country

In a recent Atlantic article, Harvard professor Steven Levitsky describes America’s current descent into fascism, saying we’re nearing “competitive authoritarianism,” or the sour spot between single-party rule and democracy. Like in Hungary.

Then he lays out what might happen in the U.S. if we don’t right ourselves in, say, the next 2 weeks. (My timeline, not his.) State agencies get packed with loyalists who crush any opposition, including politicians, journalists, CEOs, etc. Harassing them with prosecutions that drain those targets of resources, life force, and happiness until they can’t resist anymore. Like an abusive ex.

Another thing that may happen under competitive authoritarianism, Levitsky says, is the end of investigative journalism and outspoken, truth-telling columnists.

And: “Up-and-coming journalists may steer clear of politics, opting instead to write about sports or culture.”

As a sports reporter on hiatus, I have to call out this line’s flippancy.

Sports are political. Culture is political. Both shape and are shaped by politics. Despots wage culture wars because they’re a language the masses speak better than policy. (See: transgender athletes) And because those wars are a distraction from their actual agenda. They know they’re a useful political tool.

Unless you are straight-reporting sports scores—and, really, who does that?—great sports coverage is also political. And that coverage, I would argue, has a better chance than straight politics to break through to the apathetic and poorly informed so they wake up and realize what’s happening to our country. 

The Super Bowl just happened, so let’s use that as an example.

In the past week, sports journalists have shown that a 2002 NFL rule became the North Star for DEI initiatives in the U.S., the very initiatives MAGA politicians are currently attacking and blaming for everything from the LA fires to the DC plane crash.

The Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates when hiring new head coaches. Ahead of this year’s Super Bowl, sports journalists quoted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell touting the rule’s success: “We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League. And we’re going to continue towards that, because…it does make the NFL better.”

While political journalists are writing stories like “Trump scrubbing every government agency of DEI” —stories that are needed and important, but don’t necessarily capture the minds that need to be reached—sports journalists are showing people what DEI actually means, in terms even the MAGA-duped masses might understand: DEI makes watching football BETTER. Having a diverse talent pool RAISES THE GAME FOR EVERYONE.

(How much has it raised the game? That’s a question for another sports story. The point is, sports journalists are showing what DEI means in a way lots of people can understand.) 

As for culture, look no farther than the Kendrick Lamar halftime performance. Even if you had no idea what he was saying, you couldn’t miss that searing visual of the American flag made out of the backs of dozens of Black men. As The Nation’s sports editor, Dave Zirin, wrote: The performance “was a textured, deeply layered, colossal middle finger at the worst of US history, Trump, and anyone who would try to obliterate Black culture in this country.”

And a bunch of right-wing pundits didn’t even notice, tweeting about the red, white, and blue patriotism of the show.

Great sports and culture reporters are already an important part of the resistance to authoritarianism, making sense of the few events and performances millions of people still collectively see, regardless of the algorithms and info silos we’ve put ourselves in.

And they’ll keep it up. Unless, of course, they’re are bullied into just reporting the scores. Or asking if a player will be upset or happy if they don’t win MVP.

TL;DR: Sports and culture reporters, at their best, play a role in keeping democracy afloat, protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It shouldn’t be a boo-hoo moment that new reporters might opt to cover those beats instead of straight politics.