Sports: Both entertainment and forum

By Bob Herman

Things have blown up in the past couple weeks since Arizona passed Senate Bill 1070, which aims to identify and deport illegal immigrants from the state. Protests, rallies, and general discussion of the much-overlooked issue of immigration have exploded, and it's even seeped into the world of sports.

And I couldn't be happier.

I understand many people would prefer that their favorite athletes and teams stay out of the political discussions. They are around to play ball, nothing more. Well, I disagree. Athletes just so happen to play ball in one of most widespread and noticed open forums in the country: sport.

Things particularly intensified in the areas surrounding and including Arizona roughly two weeks after the bill had passed. The Phoenix Suns wore their "Los Suns" jerseys during their Cinco de Mayo playoff matchup versus the San Antonio Spurs. A few days before, prominent Hispanic slugger Adrian Gonzalez of the nearby San Diego Padres said he'd even go so far as to boycott next year's All-Star Game in Arizona because of the bill.

Whether you disagree with the bill or not, you must realize that sports are more than just a getaway for a 40-year-old guy to decompress after a day's work. We are all surrounded by athletics--newspapers, magazines, TV shows devoted to the area--so I find it invigorating when people like Gonzalez and Steve Nash take advantage of the great forum that is sport and state their views. As Dave Zirin said in this interview on Democracy Now!, "anybody who believes that sports cannot be an effective platform for social justice need only to have watched the [Suns game] last night and they would’ve been forever changed."

These recent acts of solidarity among America's professional sports leagues are not anything new, especially in the international sporting community. Who could forget Tommie Harris and John Carlos, in the 1968 Olympics, raising their arms for "Black Power" and adorning themselves in symbolic artifacts during the civil rights movement? And South African sports especially used their political voices during the apartheid era.

The point being, this is good for sports. Moreso, this is good for the country. Expressing the beauty that is our First Amendment right--and having it expressed to millions of sports fans--is a great way to create debate. Heck, it even prompted Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to defend the bill on ESPN of all places.

So props to the sports and political figures for using the platforms that reach many people, and actions like these definitely make me respect someone like Adrian Gonzalez even more. He's not afraid to belt a dinger out of Petco, and he's not afraid to speak out against a bill that brings racial profiling to the surface. Regardless of how you feel about the bill, you have to admire the way a stereotypically inactive, national sports community is responding.