“Stick to sports” is a common notion that media members and athletes alike have heard ad nauseam. “Shut up and dribble,” was the version of the saying impressed upon LeBron James. For some, the motivation is an avoidance of politics they do not like. For others, the problem may not even be the beliefs themselves, but the desire for sports to be a sanctuary away from the “real world.” The idea is that sports and real-world societal issues should not meet.
This premise is flawed. It presupposes that sports are separable in nature from Everything Else.