Liberal sports writers!

[wrkclskid]

Haha can anyone explain this to me, most sports journalists I know go out of their way to discuss politics, and if they do, it's only briefly. How would Rush know what their political leanings are. Really? This may have been the most absurd comment he made.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

1. the NFL is staffed with far left liberals

the liberal professional sports media :)

[Caution]

2. that is such a crock

I live in boston which is known as a liberal town, and the sportswriters here are almost all huge Rush FANS. They talk about him all the time, and they are incredibly wingnut.

[Octafish]

3. Same thing with Motown.

We've got two "sports" radio stations. Almost everyone on both stations is rabid right. Sad thing is they actually believe it's "manly" to be cheerleading for war. Ex-Lions QB Gary Danielson even went out of his way to berate Tom Daschle as a near-traitor for standing up at the last minute to denouce Bush's invasion of Iraq. The sad sack still goes out of his way to berate the Clintons, as "Don't 'Clinton' me." This from a guy who somehow missed out on Vietnam to enjoy a less-than-mediocre career in the NFL. Now he's heard Saturdays nationwide making nice with the NCAA.



Rah rah rah. War war war.

[phaseolus]

4. I know of a liberal sportswriter in Saginaw...

Anyone seen 5thGenDemocrat lately???

[5thGenDemocrat]

8. I'm right here, phaseolus

Gary Danielson is an okay guy -- though I never discussed politics with him (and I live just far enough north of Detroit that I don't have to listen to Detroit all-sports radio). The poster who said that sports writers tend to be conservative is probably right -- I'm scratching my head trying to think of one (maybe Mitch Albom or Jerry Green of the Detroit News, definitely me) who isn't though, as I said, we don't discuss politics much (hey -- politics is politics and sports is sports).
My best friend in the biz is a born-again, fundamentalist Christian (who, in spite of his conservative leanings, absolutely HATES the Shrub for what he's done in Iraq. Chip considers the whole affair simply murder and completely against the teachings of Christ).
I've never spent any appreciable time covering basketball (esp above HS level) but, rated most-to-least liberal amongst the athletes, I'd say hockey players, football players (!), then baseball players. Baseball players, as a group, are neanderthals.
John
Surprisingly enough, I've had many opportunities to chat with William Clay Ford Sr and Jr (of the Lions), and they have much more of a social conscience (esp Jr) than they're given credit for. Both are really decent human beings, though both have enough money that they don't have to be.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. I always felt that Mitch Albom was a liberal...anybody know for sure

[seandq]

6. Rush Limbaugh- A Conservative!

What about RUSH LIMBAUGH?

<yuck!>

[5thGenDemocrat]

9. As I said above

Yes, I think he is.
John
I first met the guy in the men's room of the Silverdome press box. From what I've gathered from talking to him, he is very observant of the human condition and sensitive to all sorts of things besides sports. He is also teeny -- maybe 5'4 and built like a bird. I don't know him as such (aside from work -- I've never socialized with him) but reading between the lines of his stories, I'd say he's one of the more liberal folks on the beat.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. The only liberal sportswriter I can think of...

is Hunter Thompson. And he only counts as a sportswriter by virtue of his ESPN column.

[Postman]

10. Sports are militaristic by nature.....

stands to reason sportswriters would be right-wing.

[5thGenDemocrat]

12. I'd say most sportswriters are frustrated jocks

Athletically inclined, but not talented enough (or not big enough) to play the games successfully. That would certainly be true in my case -- I was an okay baseball and football player in junior high/high school, but knew by the time I was in tenth grade that I was going nowhere as a jock.
That said, I didn't begin my career in sportswriting. I was a Metro/political writer who got tired of covering "important" stories -- interviewing families after tragedies or listening to the same boilerplate that all politicos (on both sides of the aisle) love to serve up hot.
I love sports because, in the final analysis, they aren't really important in the grand scheme. Sure, it bites when the hometown team loses (though I suppose that's indiscrete for a supposedly objective reporter to say), but the reporter isn't asked to pick the bones of the corpse or report something in direct quotes (what passes for "truth") when both the writer and the reader know it's crap.
At different times, I've covered the Tigers and the Lions and several bad Saginaw hockey teams. Some of these teams were so bad (and, consequently, so underattended) that one could hear crickets chirp in the stadium or in the arena. I've seen my share of double-digit losing streaks from one press box or another but, you know, nobody has truly suffered yet, in any real sense of the word, because of bad sports teams.
As Robert Duvall said in The Natural: "Win or lose, I get a story."
John
As an added bonus, my friends find it far more interesting when I say "Alan Trammell told me..." than when I say "State Senator Flummox told me...".

[msmcghee]

11. Postman got it.

Sports are basically a ritualized war. It seems to me all warlike nations are really into their sports. Especially sports that are violent and cause injury or occasionally, death.

Sports can be used to teach fairness, honesty, honor and respect for opponents - as well as a strong will to win, but fairly. This could bring out the best in human nature.

Unfortunately, living in a warlike nation, our school sports tend to teach that winning is all that counts, even if you have to cheat, destroying the ideas of honor and integrity in our young people who play those school sports.

This happens because most high schools in this country have an athletic support organization - composed of the fathers of the athletes on the teams. These guys wield a huge amount of power, especially in smaller towns, where, with their combined power, they can determine who becomes the coach of the major teams, and in some cases, who gets to be on the school board.

Needless to say, any coach who wants to keep his job for more than a season will be sure that his team knows that winning is all that counts - plus a few tricks on how not to get caught. A few years later when their knees give out and they're 30 lbs. heavier than their senior HS weight, they make great repukes.

[democracyindanger]

13. Sounds like

someone got cut from the JV team. :eyes:

[5thGenDemocrat]

14. The "Winning at all Costs" phenomenon is far more prevalent in pro sports

My old high school just had an incident wherein 19 players chose to skip a class after an assembly. The coach suspended all of them for the next game, the team lost 52-0, and nobody criticized him for doing it. I have found that the overwhelming majority of coaches (I DO know a very few exceptions) are teachers and role models in a proportion far above than of the general public.
The fans can be another matter entirely, I grant you (I condemn anyone who boos at a high school game for whatever reason). But taken as a whole, I still believe sports IS a positive experience for those who choose to play. I know it was for me.
John
Of course, Saginaw is a town of 62,000 (not small but not big, either). Our two city high schools, Arthur Hill and Saginaw High, have the oldest football rivalry (1892) in the state of Michigan. The games are noteworthy for the standard of sportsmanship displayed though, as an old AHHS Lumberjack, I want more than anything to beat the High. My friend Polly, an SHS grad, feels the same way about the game from her perspective. Yet we coexist in spite of it and mutually agree that Midland High sucks.