Are Sports Always Political?

If you follow me on IG then you’re already annoyed with my Olympic content. I was already under the weather, then I caught one of the many bugs circulating the city and went down for the count again just after the opening ceremonies…so let’s just say that I watched a lot of the events while convalescing on my couch. 

From the start of the games, there was chatter about the intersection of the Olympics and politics. You had Hunter Hess get dragged for his comments about feeling proud to compete but also conflicted because he doesn’t support a lot of what’s happening in his home country right now. We saw Chloe Kim make similar comments and highlight the importance of standing by her teammates. Amber Glenn shocked at the negative response to her comments in support of the LGBTQ community. There were hosts of posts, comments, and articles telling these athletes to stick to sports and even characters like Rudy Giuliani telling them that if they weren’t unilaterally proud to represent America then they didn’t deserve to compete. 

I wholeheartedly disagree with those takes. One of the great things about America — and there are many, even when you don’t support actions taken by your own government — is that we as individuals are allowed to speak our minds. The First Amendment is a core tenet of our democracy (did you know it wasn’t originally first on the list though? Fun fact for another article), and that means that people are welcome to express their opinions whether you agree with them or not. You’re welcome to tune them out, unfollow, or block them on social media — which I highly encourage you to do btw in today’s attention economy where rage fuels amplification. But I for one had zero issue with Hunter calmly and articulately expressing his opinion when asked. And you know what? A huge swath of America didn’t either. Those on the left proudly supported him and reposted his comments as proof that athletes could use their platforms to promote productive dialogue. And I personally appreciated the dichotomy of being proud to be American and represent the US at the games and still deeply disturbed by a lot of the actual policies that have been enacted by the current administration. 

Then the men’s hockey final happened. 

Now if you know me at all, then you’ll already be aware that hockey is by far my favorite professional sport. The energy of being in the arena during even the most mundane matchup is truly unmatched. And when you dial it up to Olympic level? Suddenly my couch felt like the most exciting place on earth. The fact that the schedule timed the two tournaments so I was almost never without a game to watch? Chef’s kiss. And if I’m being honest, I fully expected the women to outperform the men in this particular arena: 

Then? The Miracle on Ice Part II. The fact that both teams won IN OVERTIME VERSUS CANADA the undeniable hockey powerhouse was almost too much for my feebly recovering cardiovascular system to handle. What a weekend of hockey! And when the men brought out Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey and kids to participate in the moment? I teared up. What loving and supportive teammates to take time out of their own Olympic moment to make sure their friend’s memory was honored. 

My social media feed was a flurry of happiness. People who had never expressed any interest in hockey were suddenly die hard fans. For my part, I love that about the Olympics. I’m far from a purist — however you discover a new interest, I’m thrilled that you finally found it and don’t care how “late to the game” you might be. Let’s stop gatekeeping enjoyment and let people uncover new sports that they might suddenly find themselves following (I wish I could have found this love for curling, but alas, this was the only sport I couldn’t find myself captivated by…and that’s fine too! Not every sport is going to hook every spectator). 

But within hours of the flood of jubilation on my feed, suddenly a new clip emerged — Kash Patel partying in the locker room with the boys. 

Was I disappointed? Sure, I was mostly confused tbh…I genuinely don’t understand what he was doing there. Is he a huge hockey fan? Friends with someone on the team? Anyone who wants to connect those dots, kindly hmu. 

Social media seemed a little sluggish at first, almost like people were waiting to figure out how they were supposed to feel. There was certainly some backlash, but overall it seemed like it was okay to still celebrate our boys — as long as we also mocked Kash Patel. Then the second video came out. 

This one put a sour taste in my mouth quickly. Kash Patel must have dialed up Trump to talk to the boys on speaker, and he can be heard praising them as they drunkenly guffaw, all huddled around the phone like eager teenagers. Then Trump — in absolutely predictable fashion — made a comment about the women’s hockey team that was the definition of “in poor taste”. You can find the video for yourself, but the tl;dr is that Trump is joking with the boys about visiting the White House, how luckily as President he doesn’t have to worry about the weather and can send a military jet for them. But then he says that he hopes they realize that he will “have to bring the women’s team” too or else, he says, “I do believe I probably would get impeached”…

I’m going to pause to let you process that as we get a brief message from today’s newsletter sponsors:

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Ok, we’re back…

Now I personally found these comments completely unnecessary, gross, and absolutely in character for our esteemed commander in chief. Any woman has seen or experienced a situation where a man makes a demeaning joke and the men around her all laugh along — whether because they actually find it funny, they don’t want to rock the boat, or maybe don’t even get it because they’ve never had to be on their guard for tacit undercuts like that. If the woman says something, she’s generally told to lighten up…one of my least favorite phrases of all time.

But what shocked me was how quickly everyone zeroed in on the reactions of the men standing around the phone and went rabid. Mere hours after lauding this very team, the internet ricocheted to condemning them loudly — and collectively. 

Look…I’ve watched the video numerous times. And it didn’t feel great. It didn’t look great. And I honestly wish it hadn’t happened. But the level of vilification I’ve seen in the hours since has truly been something to behold. Within hours of exalting these men as American heroes for bringing the gold back (in men’s hockey, to be clear) for the first time since 1980, people were pivoting to vitriol for them not swiftly and forcefully condemning the President’s comments. 

And that’s when I started to pause…I’ve already made it clear that I’m thoroughly embarrassed to have a President whose sense of humor is so inherently sexist that this is the off-the-cuff comment he makes to feel like he’s bonding with a locker room full of elite athletes who probably would have stuffed his head in a toilet in middle school. But does it feel fair to pick apart the reactions of those athletes and turn on them so completely? I’m not so sure. 

First of all, they were all clearly hammered. If you saw any of the other coverage, it’s clear that the team began chugging beer the second they left the ice. 

But then again, I oftentimes think that how we behave when we’re intoxicated is almost a system reset of our minds to our basest instincts…so does that actually make it worse? 

I watched the video again. Suddenly it seemed like the laughing actually felt more subdued after the comments about the women’s team…more like the laughter of someone who doesn’t know what to say. Or maybe even hadn’t processed what was garbling out of the speaker phone. 

But is that any better? 

Jack Hughes said in one of his postgame interviews that one of the first people he thought of after scoring the golden goal was Megan Keller — the female player who scored her own golden goal to bring her team the gold medal on Friday. His mom was a professional hockey player and ambassador promoting women’s hockey when it first made it into the Olympic Games in 1998. But here he is on video laughing when the President demeans the women’s team in front of the entire locker room. 

This is what we mean when women say that men are complicit — when they laugh awkwardly at a sexist joke instead of calling their bros out for saying something out of line. But in the hammered, adrenaline-fueled moment of having just won an Olympic gold medal and celebrating in the locker room and suddenly someone puts the freaking President on the phone in front of you? I don’t know, I might freeze up a little myself after a few margaritas (or yell incoherently, or cry — being drunk turns people into wildcards like that sometimes). 

Which is why as much as that video made my stomach churn, I’ve come to the conclusion that we’re taking the wrong lesson from it. Suddenly every video I see celebrating the men’s hockey team is flooded with comments like this: 

And this:

One more for posterity:

The masses want apologies. They want accountability. And hey, I get it. I’m angry too. But it’s the President who made those comments. It’s the freaking head of the FBI who spent taxpayer money to fly out to Italy so that he could feel like the cool guy he never got to be in high school and drink beer with the jocks in the locker room. And it’s also the next day. These men have been competing for two weeks, drinking for 24 hours, and just landed back on American soil (the above comments are all from a video showing them arriving at the airport in Miami, clearly hungover imo). 

So let’s maybe give them a beat to organize their thoughts and respond before we storm their arenas with pitchforks? Or at the very least accept that we can be happy for the team — which is made up of 25 men, not all of whom are present during the videos in question — while still hoping for some answers from those who were clearly participating? 

Because I’m the first person to agree that there is a problem with men who sit idly by while their friends belittle women. It’s ridiculous that women’s sports — women’s anything for god’s sake — is so underfunded, under-researched, and under-supported in today’s day and age. In fact, one of my favorite creators Reb Masel posted this take in response to today’s controversy: 

And I agree with her! It is that deep! Deep-rooted misogyny is very real and insidious and permeates so much of our society. But if it is that deep then we need to make sure we’re actually thinking deeply…and we’re so quick to denounce everyone even remotely peripheral to a bad actor these days rather than taking the time to observe what’s truly going on. And I personally believe that jumping into these crusades so collectively — without nuance and genuine thought — is doing more to alienate people from the liberal cause than helping it (another article for a different day, perhaps?). 

So I’m going to continue being thrilled that the US brought home TWO Olympic gold medals in hockey this weekend. Upset that we have a president that thinks it’s hilarious to joke about inviting a group of women who also just won a gold medal to the White House as if it’s somehow comical that they should get the same recognition as their male counterparts. And cautious about what social media bandwagons I hitch myself to just because the memes are good.