Not Just a Game Reaction

This documentary was undoubtedly thought provoking. I identify myself as a fairly big sports fan so some of the points that Dave Zirin made had me thinking critically about the world wide sports landscape. I could not agree more with his fact claim that sought to prove that the separation of sports and politics was a myth and that indeed sports and politics are incredibly tied together. He showed this very well through the various clips of football coaches militaristic speech to get their players excited to play the game. He also showed that politics and sports were related when he pointed out the extravagant pre-game display of nationalism with the national anthem combined with a giant American flag (usually walked out by those previously in the military) and fighter planes usually reserved for the battlefield. He also made some interesting points regarding the status of minorities in sports. One thing that always comes to my mind when watching a sporting event is the difference in how commentators talk about minorities athletes compared to whites. In what seems like most cases announcers will attribute a black athletes success to natural ability using words like "athleticism" and "natural talent or ability." However, white player's successes are usually seen as a result of hard work and desire. Commentators will frequently use words like "heart" and "hustle" to describe white athletes. Perpetuating such a stereotype that whites work harder and minorities are simply born with skills is a dangerous thing to do and has a profound negative consequence on attempting to promote equality in our nation