One of the dumber things people can say to members of the media is “stick to sports.” It’s a useless command, one that says far more about the sender than his or her intended target. Saying “stick to sports” is a way of implying, please, I’d like the world to remain small, understandable, and safe. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way — it’s large, often confusing, and, as the events of yesterday in Toronto show, sometimes quite dangerous.
But the stick to sports edict can also provide a different kind of shelter, one that (ideally) welcomes all people into a single big space — be it literal or metaphoric — and says: yes, we’re all in this together.