The Chris Moeller Archives

The players rise up

If you're on Dave Zirin's email list, as we all should be, you're probably already aware of the unprecedented and very public political statements being offered by professional athletes in opposition to the state of Arizona's recent anti-immigration-- and anti-Hispanic-- legislation.

Zirin writes:

The (NBA's) Phoenix Suns, stepping out as a team against Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB 1070 is entirely without precedent in the history of sports, not to mention politics. It would be like if the 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers had come out as one in support of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. The reason why team owner Robert Sarver and players like Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire took this unique step, amidst all the protest and controversy, is their belief that the bill itself is fundamentally unjust, and it compelled them to act. As Stoudamire said, "It's going to be great to wear Los Suns (on their uniforms) to let the Latin community know we're behind them 100%.”

Once upon a time, professional athletes in the United States showed much more willingness to put themselves on the line publicly for their personal beliefs. Curt Flood, Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, John Carlos, Tommie Smith, Billie Jean King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dave Meggyesy, and of course, Muhammad Ali, were athletes that showed they valued their principles above their paychecks during the 1960s and '70s, but then we settled into a sort of drought during which the highest-profile and trendsetting of athletes, like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, grew most intent on staying silent and building up their corporate brands.

Stoudamire and the two-time league MVP Nash are not the only current athletes speaking out on this hot-button issue. In baseball, Padres firstbaseman Adrian Gonzalez, a native of Mexico, and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, from Venezuela, both former All-Stars in the sport, say they would boycott the 2011 All-Star Game if it is played in Phoenix as scheduled, and former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent went on ESPN radio last week to condemn the idea that politics and sports don't mix, citing the sport's vital cultural history and calling the enterprise "a moral force." (27.7% of current MLB players were born in Latin America.) The NBA and Major League Baseball Players Associations have both opposed the bill in written statements, and athletes like the Royals' Jose Guillen, and the Padres' Yorvit Torrealba and Scott Hairston are also speaking out. Said Torrealba, "I don't see this being right. Why do I want to go play in a place where every time I go to a restaurant and they don't understand what I'm trying to order, they're going to ask me for ID first? That's bull."

Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Augie Ojeda, a U.S. citizen born in Los Angeles, said, "I don't know the details, but if I leave the park after the game and I get stopped (by police), am I supposed to have papers with me? I don't think that's fair... My neighbor is a policeman. I asked him what it means, and he said he had no idea. If he doesn't know, I don't know who would." How many of you carry your Social Security card or birth certificate around with you're out of the house?

A boycott of the state of Arizona is an idea that's growing well beyond the sports world. We can all do our part by staying away from the Grand Canyon State, taking our business and our vacations elsewhere, but these athletes and sports teams can have a major and very positive impact. What would the Cardinals do if players Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Dennys Reyes, and Jaime Garcia announced they were refusing to travel to Phoenix for the team's matchup against the D'Backs beginning June 11th? What if the Cubs' Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto, Carlos Zambrano, Carlos Silva, Carlos Mormol and Kosuke Fukudome did the same July 5th, and the Reds' Francisco Cordero, Orlando Cabrera, Johnny Cueto, Miguel Cairo, Carlos Fisher, Daniel Ray Herrera, and Ramon Hernandez on August 17th? And how about this: What if their teammates decided to join with them in solidarity? The Diamondbacks are a privately-owned business, but owner Ken Kendrick is a major political donor of his state's Republican Party, which drafted and pushed this measure, and the team has accepted more than $250 million in public funds for their current stadium.

Clubs say they don't want fans and players "politicizing" the sports world, but they've already done that through lobbying and subsidies. They can't have it both ways. If they've thrown their support, financial or otherwise, behind institutional apartheid, as the Diamondbacks have, there has to be a consequence.

posted by CM @ 2:19 PM