In the past week, Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett sported special edition “Change” sneakers on election night, and on Saturday, Gator quarterback Tim Tebow showed off a Bible verse on his eye black in the huge Florida vs. Georgia SEC matchup. They had a different message, but, in my mind, both were annoying examples of a growing trend in which athletes use the platform of a sporting event to promote an agenda.
The problem is not that athletes have political or religious feelings, or even that they express them. If Garnett wants to campaign for Obama on off-days or star in a commercial, it’s OK with me. If Tebow wants to mention God in every postgame interview, to me there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Athletes are people too, and they are entitled to free speech on their own time.
The problem is that in between whistles, on the court or the field, it’s my time, not theirs. When Rockets or Celtics fans tuned into the game on Tuesday, they were looking for basketball, not a political message.
Garnett’s shoes said, “Embrace Change,” while McGrady’s star-spangled sneakers read, “A Change is Needed.” They might be right, but those fans in the stadium are paying for a basketball game, not a lesson in politics. “Vote ’08” was also written on both shoes, which is interesting considering the polls had closed in both teams’ home states before tip-off. Considering this timing, we can’t write off their choice of shoes as some public service announcement to get voters to the polls; it was a partisan effort to promote a candidate and show off their association with him.
It would be totally different if McGrady and Garnett were sporting breast cancer awareness ribbons or anti-genocide arm bands. Nobody I know is pro-breast cancer or pro-genocide. In any NBA crowd there must be plenty of people in the audience who are not pro-Obama, and for these people to have a political agenda thrown at them while they pay to see a sporting event seems unfair.
The game is the fans’ time to sit back and enjoy one of our few escapes from a society full of conflicts and controversies. In film, another such example of a break from reality, even the most politically motivated actors don’t turn to the camera mid-scene and endorse a candidate. The same should be true for basketball players.
The case of Tim Tebow is obviously slightly different, but it goes back to the same problem. Tebow didn’t start the eye-black-writing trend – my first memory of it was Reggie Bush sporting his area code back at USC – but eye black shout outs seem to have joined the ranks of scribble on sneakers and engraved arm bands as ways for college athletes to express themselves on the field.
I think the practice, in general, is obnoxious and against the purpose of amateur athletics, but that’s an issue for another column. While one could argue that Tebow’s message was much more constructive than an area code shout out, for him to put scripture under his eyes, Tebow’s reference was a profession of faith in a secular sporting event.
Philippians 3:14, one of the most commonly used Bible verses in sports, is generally translated as, “I can do all things through God who strengthens me.” For Tim Tebow to cite this when asked how he played so well is one thing, but a game-time reminder of his feelings is out of place. As the quarterback for the University of Florida, Tebow is representing a public university, and his fans certainly aren’t all Christians. Beyond this fact, it is again a case of an athlete bringing an agenda into sports. The patches draw attention to himself, and to his message, which distracts attention away from the other players and the team itself.
Why was Tebow wearing the patches in the first place? It certainly wasn’t to remind himself what Bible verse to think about – I’m guessing it’s pretty hard to see down there. He was proselytizing the verse to fans, plain and simple, and I don’t think a nationally televised college football game, especially between public universities, is the time or the place.
Ultimately, athletes, like actors, are entertainers. I’m not one to argue that athletes shouldn’t campaign or express religion in interviews, but when they are producing entertainment, they should stick to entertaining. As much as an Obama fan or evangelical may enjoy seeing his message on the big stage, a paying sports fan has every right to enjoy a game without sifting through the messages.
Jamie Leader is a senior in the College and can be reached at leaderthehoya.com. He hosts the sports radio show “Tournament Edition” on Georgetown Radio every Monday from noon to 2 p.m. FOLLOW THE LEADER appears in every other Friday issue of HOYA SPORTS.
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