For any sports fan, it’s often necessary to hold two disparate thoughts in your head at the same time.
- For Americans, sports have always been an escape from the drudgery of life. From my grandmother, who spoke wistfully of Wrigley Field during the Great Depression, to the young Bulls fans shooting hoops on Chicago’s embattled south and west sides today, sports are, and always has been where Americans go to find reprieve.
- From the beginning, sports have been a means for Americans to work through our most uncomfortable social issues. Baseball was integrated before America was integrated.