Sports and Politics Should Not Be Mixed

Apparently Arizona's legislature didn't learn their lesson. For those that don't recall, Super Bowl Xxvii was scheduled to be played in Arizona in 1993 but the game was moved because of Arizona's controversial position on Martin Luther King Junior's birthday. Every state in the union besides Arizona and New Hampshire recognized the slain civil possession leader's birthday as a holiday. Arizona voters finally approved the holiday in 1992 but too late to stop the Super Bowl from being moved and only after a traveler boycott crippled the state's economy.

Now Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed into law an immigration bill which according to this article on cbsnews.com says:

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"Arizona's new law, slated to go into consequent in July, requires immigrants to carry documents verifying their immigration status. It also requires police officers to interrogate a man about his or her immigration status after a "lawful stop" if there is "reasonable suspicion" that man may be illegally in the country."

Of policy this has caused quite the stir nationally. With the Mlb All-Star game scheduled to be played in Phoenix next summer, calls for Major League Baseball to move the game out of Arizona have already been voiced. Senator Robert Menendez (D - New Jersey) has called for the Major League Baseball Player's Union to officially boycott next year's game. The director of the union, Michael Weiner, has already come out publicly against the law.

Chicago White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, has said that he would decline an invitation to be part of the Al coaching staff (though he probably wouldn't be chosen anyway given his squads start this season). Players along with Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres, who is of Mexican descent, have indicated they would at least consider not participating in next summer's event unless this law is repealed.

I try to keep my sports writing to sports for a reason. Sports are an escape from the negativity that we all see in every-day news. Politics is the worst. Politics by nature is divisive, is designed to originate seminar and in action, creates animosity. I watch and write about sports because I enjoy it. If something I believe or write about sports creates amiable discussions with man who has a different view than me then so be it. We can all agree to disagree and still be amiable about it. That isn't ordinarily the case with politics.

I won't even enter into my personal feelings on this particular issue. I will say that I see the validity of both arguments. I also understand how this particular issue has created so much controversy. Living in California, I know first-hand that illegal immigration is a political hot-button issue right now. I just don't think the consider should be broadcast or argued in the world of sports.

I get that baseball players, or athletes in normal and the habitancy that rehearse them are also habitancy with views, feelings and opinions. I don't begrudge them for expressing those feelings.......on the allowable stage. Keeping the fans hostage by threatening to boycott the All-Star game in order to justify their political platform is wrong. And yes, that is exactly what they would be doing.

Think about it; I vote for Adrian Gonzalez, for example, to be the starting 1B in next year's All-Star game. If he wins but he boycotts the game, how am I supposed to feel? As a fan, we help pay the salaries of these players and when we make the exertion to show our appreciation for the player by voting for his All-Star candidacy, don't they owe us at least the courtesy of appearing in the game condition permitting?

Save your protestations for later. March in a demonstration before or after the game. Sign as many petitions or make as many collective speeches against the law as you want. That's all well and good with me. But let's keep sports isolate from politics. Just play the game, that's all I ask.

Sports and Politics Should Not Be Mixed