Foul territory: Keep the leftist politics out of sports reporting

National Review senior editor Jay Nordlinger opines on the increasing injection of partisan politics into sports writing:

Sarah Palin comes in for a lot of abuse from sportswriters, as you might expect. Here is an item from Sports Illustrated’s website —the subject is baseball (really): “Imagine for a minute that you had free reign [sic] to add any three players to your team for the second half, while punishing a heated [hated?] rival by tagging them with three more of your choice. That’s basically the essence of this week’s revised format: three players who will heat up post-All-Star break and three who will break down faster than you can say Sarah Palin.”

If he says so.

Another Sports Illustrated writer was sizing up Heisman prospects, ranking them, 1 to 10. He said he “had more trouble picking the No. 10 candidate than Sarah Palin had choosing a Supreme Court ruling she opposed.” A writer for a college-football site had occasion to write, “Sarah Palin could be thrown out there against John Kenneth Galbraith in an open forum debate on economic reform, and if it’s in that time slot on CBS, it would go down to the wire.” (Actually, to borrow an old line, Galbraith knew more than Palin about economics — and also more that simply isn’t true.) An SI writer, soliciting reader mail, asked specifically for “Sarah Palin jokes.” Why not?

Nordlinger also points out that it's not only sports reporting where writers feel compelled to gratuitously work in their political jibes:

An NRO reader told me, “I stopped reading the New York Times in the ’80s, when the cooking columns started saying things like, ‘Just as Reagan should have known it was time to [do X], you must carefully monitor the exact time to [do Y].” I even received complaints about chess columns.

And a woman from Nashville registered the following: “Conservative women also have to put up with this when reading one of the expensive, glossy women’s mags such as Cosmo or Glamour. You’re reading a lovely little article on vintage purses, the best under-eye creams, boyfriend woes, etc., and — there it is. A Palin slam. A reference to Dick Cheney shooting someone. A joke about a Republican getting caught in a scandal. A glowing reference to Michelle Obama.”

And would you like to hear about another unsafe zone? Let’s go on a city tour. Recently, a newlywed couple I know traveled to New York to spend a few special days. They took an open-air bus tour, and the guide peppered his commentary with anti-Republican jibes. For example, as the bus cruised up Sixth Avenue, he pointed out Fox News, calling it “the voice of evil.” That certainly says to conservative-leaning couples, “Happy honeymoon!”

Rock musicians have been making political pronouncements at their concerts for years, but Nordlinger cites an example of a chamber music recital where a composer, instead of discussing his music which was about to be played, assailed the audience with a crescendo of Bush-bashing.

The worst offenders, in our opinion, are gossip columnists and entertainment reporters who do more smearing of Sarah Palin than the (not ready for) prime time lineup at MSNBC. If there ever was a group of folks less qualified to weigh in on political matters, it's rumor mongers who are impressed by the Hiltons, from Paris to Perez.

We wholeheartedly agree with Nordlinger when he says that he prefers his sports, music, food, and such politics-free. If sportswriters, musicians, Hedda Hopper wannabes and food critics want to share their personal political views with the rest of the world, they should take up blogging.

- JP