Politics in Sports

Women in sports is a topic that seems to come up a lot and, personally, I do not understand the controversy. Women in sports relates directly to the idea that politics are taking a dominant role in athletics. Sports should not be made into a political spectacle.

            Playing sports is, or at least should be, something that people do simply because they enjoy the game. There should be no reason to question anyone’s intentions about being in athletics. So what if females who play sports are more masculine than others? That should not be an issue, it is just who they are. Going back to when we talked about Caster Semenya, people were constantly questioning if she was really a women or if she was actually a man. Hearing these things offended me because, if I were in her shoes, my self-esteem would be torn to pieces. People seemed to forget that she is a human being and they were saying hurtful things about her just because she was an outstanding athlete.

            Another way that sports are becoming political is that people will do whatever their favorite team or favorite athlete tells them to do. Many people would change their political views to match those of their favorite team. This is not something that we should be proud of.

            So why? What’s the point of bringing these things into the sports industry? Is it so bad for football to just be about football or tennis just to be about tennis? Sports have turned into a political influence rather than a form of entertainment, and we are letting it happen.

In my opinion, sports need to be turned back into a form of physical activity and entertainment rather than continuing to head in a political direction. We have enough politics constantly being thrown in our faces with movies, the news, and even our facebook newfeeds. It does not need another outlet.