Why I Won't Stick To Sports: Tom Oates
Arenas have long delivered messages for change
Tom Oates
Why I Won’t Stick to Sports is a first-person series written by Colorado State student-athletes. Nationally, athletes are told to “stick to sports”, but as members of the community, they have ideas, motivations and a passion for creating meaningful change in the world. Their talents and knowledge are not limited to fields of play. In their own words, this is why our student-athletes will not stick to sports.
In the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, the world marveled as great African American sprinter Jesse Owens put on display of complete dominance on the track, taking home gold medals in four different events. That is to say, most of the world marveled; a certain Adolf Hitler likely did not, as his plan to use the great spectacle of the Olympics to advance the Nazi ideology had taken a significant hit. In this case, Owens made no overtly political statements, but was able to defy Hitler’s propaganda through his performance alone.
While a point was made, this was unfortunately not enough to spark societal change in Germany, nor in the United States, where racism was also rampant. Nonetheless, a statement that was received around the world. Not the first, and certainly not the last example of the innate entanglement of sport and politics.
In the years since, athletes have continued to use their platforms to fight for racial equality, along with other important causes. Muhammad Ali vocally objected to the Vietnam War, Katherine Switzer broke down a gender barrier by becoming the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon (against the will of the race organizers), and 32 years after Owens’ dominant performance, 200-meter medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in protest of racial injustice.
As athletes today face pushback for taking stands on issues they care about, there is an assumption among many that sport can exist in a vacuum, with its sole purpose being to entertain the fans. This assumption relies on a premise that athletes are not humans affected by the same issues as the rest of us, and implies that athletes don’t have a right to free expression.
While it is understandable that the idea of sport without politics is appealing to many in this moment of great political division, it’s important that we consider the true message that this sends. Our favorite athletes are heroes and role models. While it might be irritating to have to listen to your team’s star player make arguments that you don’t agree with, we should all be able unite against a common enemy of apathy. We regularly kick off sporting events by playing the national anthem, a gesture of patriotism. So why not extend the gesture by welcoming political engagement from athletes?
Moving closer to home, college athletes are often subjected to the same pushback as pros in response to speaking out. Not to say that the pros deserve the pushback that they get, but to expect unpaid college athletes to act in the same way as the pros is absurd regardless. Rather, so long as collegiate athletes are unpaid and expected to prioritize education, we should not be expected to limit our expression any more than other college students. In fact, when sport gives us a platform to affect change, it is regrettable that we don’t use it more often. Yes, I know that cross country runners might be lacking in the “platform” department, but we’ll work on that!
In a year which has been probably the most challenging yet for our generation across the board, with an extremely consequential election looming, it is as important as ever that we take action in support of the causes we believe in. I personally intend to take steps to extend my activism in more meaningful ways, beyond the occasional retweet. In this moment as we are dealing with a devastating pandemic, persisting racial inequities and threats to our democratic process, the stakes are too high not to. I encourage you to join me in this endeavor, whatever your beliefs may be. At the very least, I ask that you make a plan to vote in the upcoming election. Once again, the stakes are far too high to be apathetic.
Thanks for reading, and Go Rams!
Tom Oates is a redshirt sophomore on the men’s cross country and track and field teams. He earned All-Mountain West honors as a member of the distance medley team at the 2020 Indoor Championships. He currently is writing letters for Vote Forward, a campaign to raise voter registration across the country.