On the night of the first debate between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the nation tuned in to hear what they had to say. Alabama running back Damien Harris was part of the millions watching and he wasn’t shy about his opinions. “Not one time did Trump present what he was gonna do to solve race issues,” Harris tweeted. Not long after he spoke out, several Alabama fans let him know that they were not happy with his statement. One fan, in particular, replied, “Stick to sports, son."
As the sports world evolves, more and more athletes seem to be using their platform to make a statement about their beliefs. There has been tweeting, “Tebowing”, teams locking arms for the national anthem and players who have chosen to kneel during the song. Many more statements have been made and I would venture to say that we all disagree with at least one of them. I know that some of them have made me smile and others have made me cringe, but they have all made me stop and think.
The fan who tweeted at Harris was certainly not the first to tell an athlete to “stick to sports." This idea has been perpetuated for as long as I can remember and it upsets me more than any statement I think is incorrect ever could. Let’s think about what might happen if athletes actually did nothing more than play sports. How many charity dollars would never be raised? How many kids might grow up thinking that social and political issues don’t matter? How many people would be uninformed regarding these issues?
I don’t want the people that I root for in the stands to be mindless figureheads when they step out of the stadium. Sports are exponentially important to me but even I know that they are less important than the state of our world today. I want all athletes to take a stand for something, even if it isn’t something I agree with, because being athletically gifted doesn’t nullify your right to free speech.
To Harris and all other athletes, please don’t ever “stick to sports”. If you are on the team I root for, I will applaud when you score and when you present your opinions, even if they don’t happen to match up with mine. These are the kind of ideas that create unity because they show us that caring for another person doesn’t have to mean always agreeing with everything they say.
