Why are so many professional athletes right-wing tools?

[devilgrrl]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=323264

This thread over at LBN got me to thinking about Conservatism and professional sports. Why is it that so many of them are right-wingers? Steve Largent, Nolan Ryan, Mike Ditka, etc... Has anyone in Boston listened to Fred Smerlas? :wtf:

Just asking...

[dflprincess]

1. A lot of them strike me as not being very bright

n/t

[Lefty48197]

2. Don't forget Jim Bunning and Steve Largent

I think that makes 6.

[camero]

3. Average salary in baseball over a mil.

What do you think?

[mitchum]

4. Well, they didn't go to school on academic scholarships...

did they?

[KG]

5. but most were union members when playing

go figure...

[mitchum]

11. just like RW actors who belong to a very powerful trade union...

but who support a party in opposition to those workers who do REAL work.
It's because they suck

[ProfessorGAC]

48. UNION?!?!?!?

Those guys aren't in a union. They are all guilds of independent contractors run by massively wealthy lawyers made up of guys who didn't get where they are by studying hard and paying attention to current events.

These guys aren't union members, which is one reason i've always been confused about the fans so staunchly taking the players' side during strikes. I take no sides. Both sides are jerks.

But, don't call the members of the major league players' associations union people. They're not!
The Professor

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

6. Money

Plus a sense that they achieved success on their own.

[FreeperSlayer]

7. It's the "jesus" thing

eom

[vpigrad]

8. It's seems any person that...

makes a lot of money (more than $50k?) becomes a repuke. Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with sports or with intelligence. It has to do with which party looks after the rich and hates the normal people.

[RoeBear]

12. If you are equating...

...fifty thousand dollars with being rich you must be about 16 years old.

[BiggJawn]

31. Ain't that the truth.

Fifty Kilobucks ain't SHIT.

Lance Armstrong made in excess of 12 Megabucks last year, BEFORE he won the tour. Not saying he's a rich RW'er, just a rich Pro Athelete.

Of course, I COULD understand why he might not like the French....

[vpigrad]

42. What?

Why the personal attack?

> ...fifty thousand dollars with being rich you must be about 16 years old.

You missed by over 40 years. I work about 40 hours extra each week during Feb, Mar, and April doing taxes. Out of the about 600 I do, there's only a couple of people that make more than that. They are very well off. By $50k, I meant an individual. There's more than a few families that make that much, especially the ones where the wife has a high paying job like as a nurse. I've seen the actual tax returns. Most people aren't nearly as well off as they would lead you to believe.

[RoeBear]

47. Any auto worker...

... or skilled tradesman working full time makes more than $50,000. We don't consider ourselves rich.

[BiggJawn]

52. Could it be....

...that you get the people who can't afford HR Block-head to do their taxes?

I don't understand why somebody who makes 50 kilobucks would consider themselves "rich" when the guy with a Volvo and a 100 kilobuck income over in the gated community calls himself "middle-class"

We have had a great deal of discussion on this topic. Do a little searching in the archives, and I'm sure you'll understand why most of us consider 50 kilobucks damn-nearly poverty-stricken.

[Voltaire99]

9. Steroid abuse? ;-)

[0rganism]

10. It's the sudden influx of money

My theory: these guys often grow up in blue-collar households, not much income, not too much financial awareness. Then, suddenly, they're pulling in multi-million-dollar contracts and product endorsements, and they pay more tax than they thought possible. So the natural impulse is anti-tax kneejerking, without due consideration for how they could invest, donate and otherwise shelter their income bump.

Also, republicanism feeds into the jock (lack of) mentality.

[Kat45]

14. Yes, jock mentality and repub mentality are similar

I think Carl Yastrzemski was another one.

[catzies]

56. You're right. But one of them is coming around.

CHARLES BARKLEY, believe it or not.

This is the guy who, when asked by his grandmother on how he could be a Republican when all they represent are the rich, said "I AM rich, Grandma!"

Lately, he's been voicing views that make me think he's seen the light and is coming back to his senses. While he's still rich, he's aware of social injustice and inequality and knows the GOP isn't goind to do anything for you unless you're rich and Charles knows that. He probably goes back home to Alabama and sees what reality is for minorities who aren't rich and aren't going to be, and that the GOP will never help them.

[radiclib]

13. Football players are fuelled by hostility

So naturally that hostility needs a target off the field. Saddam, Osama, Hillary, whoever. Steve DeOssie is another right-wing Boston radio ex-jock, but seems brilliant next to the knuckle-dragging Smerlas. Fortunately, most listeners seem to recognize Freddy as an amiable dolt. :crazy:

[Dude_CalmDown]

16. Get over it. I played football, If I still had the opportunity to I would

...continue to do so. I watch it all the time. I love football. Am I a republican? Playing football, watching football and enjoying football have nothing to do with being conservative. It has only to do with football. Why is this so hard to grasp?

Is it so far fetched to imagine that the only players who get the air time are the ones who sound just like every other jackass the media trots in front of the cameras anyway? Of any kind of celebrity, who is more likely to get every chance to speak: a liberal or a conservative? Who gets more air time: Franken or Miller? Who gets more time on the radio Limpshit or Chomsky?

[devilgrrl]

17. There are many football fans here...

Sorry, but it seems that most of them are a bunch of knuckle dragging, homophobic, mysogynist, ass clowns... except for Tom Jackson, he's the king... and Sean Salisbury, he's a nice man. See, not of them are jerks. :shrug:

[Awsi Dooger]

29. Sean Salisbury is genuinely a nice guy

I was at USC at the time and knew him fairly well. I'll never forget calling his house in Utah when we surprisingly snagged him from BYU as a blue chip recruit. His mom gave me one of the great quotes for the 'SC student paper: "We can't understand what all the fuss is about. To us he's just another little kid with dirty clothes."

Sean was very immature, once sleeping thru an entire class until the prof chastised him and threw him out into the hallway. But he was always an agreeable and cordial "yes sir, no sir" interview subject, and greeted me warmly on campus and the practice field, including after I graduated. I'm really happy for his broadcast success. And when I visited Winnipeg a few years ago many of the Blue Bomber fans said kind things about him from his Grey Cup winning days there.

Still, Sean Salisbury is no Ronnie Lott. He was the most impressive person I met at USC, athlete or otherwise.

[phaseolus]

15. Yes -- the psychological thing.

There's a stupid old joke -- "It's not enough that you win. Others must Lose." ...or something like that. For all the noises about building character in the young & stuff like that, there's much more glorification of winning at any cost. Coupled with that, the belittling and demeaning of opponents. The RW gets off on that crap, as evidenced by all the propagandists out there, and it attracts dickheads - some of whom are in professional sports.

[BigDaddyLove]

18. Well, there can only really be one winner in a competition......

sports or otherwise; if a Democrat wins this year, should we make Bush Vice-President because he 'did his best'?

[CanuckAmok]

19. Stupid, rich, multiple blows to the ol' mellon...sounds RW to me.

n/t

[Kathy in Cambridge]

20. I Listen to Sports Radio in the Car and usually have to shut it off

I like the guys on between 10 and 2 on my local sports radio station (WEEI) because they're no-nonsense and I learn quite a bit from them. They also don't talk politics a lot. The rest of them make me ill. I have been *trying* to listen because of the Pats, but all they talk about are 'hummers' and how good the strip clubs are in Houston. There are women sports fans and men-like my husband-who would rather not be subject to the locker room talk.

[dad]

21. Another reason to hate the Patriots!

Your goddam QB Brady was at the Bush speech tonite!
D'ya think the French-named Delhomme got the infamous Bush SNUB, or is he a big D Dem who hates Bush?
You and your Repuke QB are going DOWN Feb. 1 HAHAHAHA

[Kathy in Cambridge]

44. Don't count on it-Pats defense will crush you

Plus Brady really is a Dem-he's hosting a fundraiser for Kerry.

[tinrobot]

22. Because all the smart people go Ivy League...

...and leave the jocks to go to the football schools.

[Braden]

36. Like GW Bush?

[tinrobot]

40. There are cracks in every system.

He fell though a crack and landed on his head.

Smart people go to football schools as well.

[Braden]

49. Ivy Nepotism is much more than a crack ,

its a prominent feature in the system. I went to a "football school" and there were plenty of good students.

[jfxgillis]

23. Robert Kraft is a huge Democrat

Best I can figure, Kraft donated $1,000 to the Republicans and his donations to Democrats outnumber that by AT LEAST 100 to 1.

Tom Brady appears to be a moderate-to-conservative Catholic Democrat, at least, that's where his family's political donations go: Jean Carnahan, Max Cleland, that sort.

Brady likes Bush personally but he also more or less swore off politics after almost getting burned by both sides in Spring '02.

And I have a funny, funny feeling that Bush sandbagged him tonight.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. Maybe it's because they are overpaid numbskulls just like their

Repub counterparts. :shrug:

[Kickin_Donkey]

25. I think there are several reasons ...

some of the related (talking in generalities here):

1) Professional athletes make a heck of a lot of money. They want to keep it, so they are anti-tax. They want their Hummers – or several of them.

2) These athletes have been coddled since they were very young. They have a sense of entitlement. They're not particularly introspective nor socially conscious.

3) The sports culture is essentially conservative: male-dominated, obedience to authority, macho, aggressive, traditional (boys as hunters, girls as cheerleader-nurturers), not "whimpy."

4) Pro athletes aren't intellectuals. They aren't paid to be. As a result, they don't see social issues in shades of subtlety; they tend to see things in black and white like Repubs.

5) They identify with the Repub characteristics of militarism, male-domination, "traditional family," suburban mansion and four-car garage, hunting, a 1950s world, etc.

6) There's an evangelical Christian streak that runs through the professional sports world.

Again, these are generalizations. Of course, not all pro athletes are right-wingers.

[SoCalDem]

26. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ n/t

:(

[OldEurope]

27. "mens sana in corpore sana" doesn´t work, so

they made it: mens insana in corporate sana...
:crazy:

[Awsi Dooger]

28. The entire PGA Tour is sickeningly Republican

One of the major golf magazines ran an article a few years ago after quizzing the players on their political beliefs. The writer indicated he was amazed at how conservative the players were. Fred Funk was quoted as saying he was probably the only registered Democrat on tour.

Plus my teenage crush, Dorothy Hamill, stumping Republican in the Maryland gov race two years ago and appearing on Scarborough Country a few months ago. I might have wished her a Kerriganesque knee-whipping had I known.

[Whitacre D_WI]

30. That's why my favorite baseball player is:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/magadda01.shtml

Dave Magadan. Good & progressive. Hell, he's probably a DUer.

[blindpig]

32. definition of professional athlete:

smart enough to play the game, dumb enough to think its important.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

33. Many good reasons, but here's another no one pointed out:

Fear of damage to career if voicing unpopular opinions. In other words, many of them may be faking it. Hell, I'm 100% sure a few of them DO fake it.

[Braden]

34. Fred Smerlas is a moron

most of them lean hard to the right because they are rich and only care about how much they pay in taxes,

the funny thing about smerlas is when you mention the players unions he turns into warren beatty in reds.

he is a screaming closet lefty who just loves to embarrass his fellow Boston College Alumni.

[zanana]

35. Bush's mouth is getting even more downturned...

Have you noticed? Now he looks mean even when he isn't trying.

[Dogmudgeon]

37. Machismo

The Right decided that it would "own" masculinity. And a lot of the dumber guys fall for it.

Bodybuilders, especially, are notorious right-wingers. In their day-to-day life, they're pretty much egalitarian guys, but once they get started on politics, it's libbrulfeminazipeeceeslickwillyclintonhitlerylesbianradicalgaytraitors from start to finish.

It's machismo. It's "masculinity". It's the Culture War snapping the jockstrap. It makes it tough to be a liberal with any sense of manhood at all, but putting up with juvenile right-wing idiots is also an attribute of Manliness.

--bkl
Do you like boobs a lot?
Gotta like boobs a lot!
Right-wing boobs a lot!
Limbaugh's man-boobs a lot!

[DS1]

38. Aren't all professional athletes, by definition, tools?

They get paid to be warm, if skilled, bodies on a field, in a car, underwater, etc.

[ZenLefty]

45. By that definition, most of us are tools

I'm a tool that helps facilitate commercial real estate transactions. I imagine I look a lot like a gear, probably very greasy and worn, and one of many gears in this impossibly big engine.

[DS1]

39. dupe

*zipped*

[Beaker]

41. Not-so-bright, aggressive type-A's making big bucks for little actual work

next question?

[RedEarth]

43. Because bush is cutting their taxes.........nt

[Wonco_the_Sane]

46. Favorite sports quote of all time!!!!

"Nobody in Football should be called a genius. A genius in a guy like Norman Einstein."
Joe Theisman

[PVnRT]

50. Money

A lot of them earn a lot of money, and don't want to pay taxes. It's just like lots of other wealthy people. I think it has less to do with some ideological thing, and more to do with what income bracket you find yourself in.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

51. F1 drivers just go live in Monaco and stay apolitic

That's the advantage of it being a truly international competition -- it happens all over the world, all year long, every year, so it doesn't really matter where you live -- because you actually live nowhere. Set up your (so-called) home where you pay less taxes and be happy.

Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya spoke against the Iraq war.

Michael Schumacher once received death threats, allegedly from Arabs. When asked about it, he said (I paraphrase), "I don't think it was Arabs. It was probably neonazis trying to smear Arabs." (This was way before 9-11)

On edit: this is my wallpaper:

[PVnRT]

54. True

I know also that some tennis stars (Bjorn Borg comes to mind) actually moved over here to pay less in taxes. Once again, feeding my theory that a lot of it has to do with greed and not politics.

Hey, not all athletes are apolitical or right-wingers. Sam Nash (Dallas Mavericks, basketball) is a pretty big peace advocate, if I remember right. And as I recall, outfielder Lance Johnson, who played for the Mets at the time, I believe, refused to go to the White House to meet Bush. It was some excuse, like family business, but he made no mistake about not liking Bush.

Why would Schumacher receive death threats from anyone except for other F1 drivers tired of losing to him? :evilgrin:

[catzies]

55. Steve Nash, not Sam Nash. And you're correct about his peace stand.

n/t

[SaveElmer]

53. There aren't as many as you think

Most pro athletes could care less about politics. There are plenty of left leaning athletes - Michael Jordan probably being the most famous - they just don't get the publicity.

[EV1Ltimm]

57. sports require no minimum level of reasonability...