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Sports & Politics

RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
edited November 2008 in Strut Central
Interesting topic this week on the local Sports Talk radio station....b, 21b, 21Back in the day there were plenty of outspoken athletes who took it upon themselves to speak out in the political arena.....Ali, Jim Brown, John Carlos & Tommie Smith, Bill Russell and even what some considered the counter-revolutionary stance of a George Foreman....yet today there are virtually none other than the late Pat Tillman.b, 21b, 21Have the big money contracts killed the Athlete Activist?

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  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    /font1
    Quote:/font1h, 21b, 21Interesting topic this week on the local Sports Talk radio station....b, 21b, 21Back in the day there were plenty of outspoken athletes who took it upon themselves to speak out in the political arena.....Ali, Jim Brown, John Carlos & Tommie Smith, Bill Russell and even what some considered the counter-revolutionary stance of a George Foreman....yet today there are virtually none other than the late Pat Tillman.b, 21b, 21Have the big money contracts killed the Athlete Activist? b, 21b, 21h, 21
    b, 21b, 21Yes.b, 21b, 21Endorsements = keeping your mouth shut. b, 21b, 21On the up there is that olympic speed skater. (I'd know his name if he could get an endorsement.)b, 21b, 21Only other athletes I know who shows a concern for politics are Charles Barkley and John Elway, Heaven Help Us.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    b, 21b, 21 b, 21b, 21
  • GenePontecorvoGenePontecorvo 5,612 Posts
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    Quote:/font1h, 21b, 21 b, 21b, 21 b, 21b, 21 b, 21b, 21h, 21
    b, 21b, 21Yeah, this is like the exact opposite of the type of activism Rock referenced.
  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
    Haha, that bottom flick is totally illegible. If someone had posted it in a cooking thread I wouldn't have thought twice. b, 21b, 21I think with the the recent history of politics in the USA there hasn't been much for anyone who makes a living outside of politics to be terribly enthused about. Ali was doing his thing amidst massive civil rights changes. Hopefully people in general will make politics more of a priority with the new directions implied by our new president elect.
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    /font1
    Quote:/font1h, 21b, 21Interesting topic this week on the local Sports Talk radio station....b, 21 b, 21b, 21h, 21
    b, 21b, 21Funny you mention this ... sort of a different topic, but the local sportsb, 21radio station was driving me INSANE this week, as all they talked about allb, 21week long was politics and the election. Now, even if their politics were alongb, 21the same lines as mine, I would have been really annoyed, because I put on sportsb, 21talk radio to get AWAY from things like politics - if I wanted to hear peopleb, 21talk about the election, I would put on regular talk radio. But not only wereb, 21they discussing the election all week instead of sports, but the politics of b, 21the entire station are as far right as you will find in this area, and they wereb, 21just trashing Obama and the people who voted for him all day long. They wereb, 21basically doing the same thing they do with sports, as in, where on a normalb, 21day they would take a call from a Yankees fan just to shout him down and ridiculeb, 21him, they would just take calls from people supporting Obama who would try to makeb, 21his case, and just rag on them, yell over them, and "blow them up." The wholeb, 21thing made me furious and also made me not really want to listen to the stationb, 21ever again. Shit, they never discuss hockey anyway, and pretty much treat Bruinsb, 21fans the same way they treated Obama voters. Fuckers.
  • davesrecordsdavesrecords 1,802 Posts
    etan thomas has spoken out against the war.b, 21b, 21carlos delgado too.b, 21b, 21that's pretty pathetic but those are the only two atheletes i can think of. img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/WHYMUSTICRY.gif" alt="" 21 there were a number of pro atheletes who campaigned for obama but i don't know if you would really call them outspoken.b, 21b, 21i notice in baseball the only time an announcer talks about politics or social issues it is when talking about cuban players and how bad and evil cuba is. and that is even a rarity. thankfully vin scully doesn't do it. most announcers sound like complete morons with their thick meat headed faces talkinga bout something outside of balls and strikes (I was in no way endorsing communism or the communist system as practiced in cuba). img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" 21
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    /font1
    Quote:/font1h, 21b, 21Interesting topic this week on the local Sports Talk radio station....b, 21b, 21Back in the day there were plenty of outspoken athletes who took it upon themselves to speak out in the political arena.....Ali, Jim Brown, John Carlos & Tommie Smith, Bill Russell and even what some considered the counter-revolutionary stance of a George Foreman....yet today there are virtually none other than the late Pat Tillman.b, 21b, 21Have the big money contracts killed the Athlete Activist? b, 21b, 21h, 21
    b, 21b, 21I'm no big sports scholar, but I've noticed that all the names you mentioned from the past were from the sixties and early seventies. None before or after.b, 21b, 21Maybe that is why political sports stars are so uncommon these days? Because Jim Brown and them came out back when the problems of the world were just too hard to ignore?b, 21b, 21(Not that it's any better now, but you know what I mean.)
  • Ex-BoyfriendEx-Boyfriend 795 Posts
    too many celebrities mouthing off as it is.
  • edulusedulus 421 Posts
    republicans buy sneakers too
  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    Step 5: Wish celebrities would shut up (unless they say something you agree with)
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