The trouble with sports journalism

Wokeness claims another victim

It was Howard Cosell who observed that “Sports is the sandbox of life.” Yet, he made his fortune covering sports, and was probably the first in his field to delve into its political aspects. He was an early supporter of Muhammad Ali (then named Cassius Clay), as well as Olympic sprinters/protesters John Carlos and Tommie Smith.

Ironically, Cosell was also the first sports journalist to run afoul of the Woke Mob—before it was even called that—by an unfortunate turn of phrase. During a 1983 broadcast of Monday Night Football, he commented on Black wide receiver Alvin Garrett, “That little monkey gets loose doesn't he?” Despite being defended by several civil rights icons and Garrett himself, the controversy led to Cosell leaving the show.

Ah, but that was just the beginning of a continuing and pathetic pissing contest as to whom could be the first and most offended observer safeguarding the fragile souls of Black athletes. Dozens of notorious incidents could be counted up, but everyone remembers ESPN tennis analyst Doug Adler’s comments on Venus Williams in the 2017 Australian Open.

Adler observed, “You see Venus move in and put the guerilla effect on. Charging.” Only, the morons who were primed and ready to be offended misheard this as the “gorilla effect,” which of course is meaningless. Adler’s career never recovered, and to the everlasting shame of ESPN, who knew damn well that he did not say anything racist, the network—also petrified by fear—did nothing to defend its commentator.

And that incident, my friends, ushered in the current era of “more woke than thou” in sports journalism. After all, the best defense is a strong offense.

Whether it’s ESPN’s Sarah Spain skewering Tampa Bay Rays players for not praising Pride Month; any number of writers condemning the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour, while flagrantly ignoring the NBA kowtowing to the Chinese; or NO ONE defending Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio for his tell-it-like-it-is commentary on the events of January 6th versus the BLM riots; the spinelessness of the sports journo community is plain for all to see.

Need we even comment on how the case of serial sexual predator Deshaun Watson is being covered? While no defense of Watson appears anywhere, and why should it, virtually all coverage focuses on the mistakes made by the Cleveland Browns in offering Watson his sweet and unprecedented deal. To its great credit, Black and White Sports does not shy away from attacking Watson himself, and the cowardly Houston prosecutors who refused to go after him.

For my money, though, the most sick and craven sports journalism extant is the cheerleading—by Black sportswriters—of pro-abortion rhetoric and calling for sanctions on states that want to more strictly regulate abortion. Inasmuch as the rate of abortion among Blacks is running at near-genocidal levels, notorious racist and founder of Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger would be so proud.

You’ve heard the aphorism “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” A similar sentiment occurred perhaps 2000 years earlier in the Old Testament:

“Pay attention to this,
    you foolish and senseless people,
Who have eyes and do not see,
    who have ears and do not hear.” (Jeremiah 5:21)