Trump has some thin skin in the game
It has only been a week into President Trump’s new world order, and while we completely understand the hope from some that the sports pages would be a respite from his news making, as a sports fan and a voracious black hole of media coverage, he is elbowing his way onto sports media’s radar.
In terms of sports and athletes, Trump’s invocation and use is simple. He only speaks in terms of winning and losing, and the sports world provides too many perfect examples to reinforce his points. He also loves star power and has already found the benefits of aligning himself with sports figures, even though it is clear that some do not want to be caught in the current media tornado following his every utterance.
He has a long history with athletes and sports, being an avid golfer who owns many courses, and formerly owning a USFL team and helping to run that league into the ground. “Every president campaigns with athletes, arranges them as props at his State of the Union, and uses sports as a lingua franca to speak to Joe Sixpack,” is a great line from a piece by Bryan Curtis at The Ringer, who did a nice look at Obama’s “sports mad Presidency.” Due to his well documented love of playing pickup basketball or turning his March Madness picks into a televised event, Obama was often called the “the sports fan-in-chief” in several articles, and while their policies could not be more different, it is a very safe bet that Trump will continue that tradition.
Looking back at Trump’s sports references this week, regarding his CIA speech, he told ABC News’ David Muir in this first post-inauguration interview: “I got a standing ovation. In fact, they said it was the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl and they said it was equal.”
That first caused confusion because the former quarterback never addressed the intelligence institution, and who exactly “they” was, but it also flummoxed the Star’s ace Washington correspondent Daniel Dale as an ”uncheckable claim” in his subsequent fact check of the interview.
Somewhat similar to Trump’s failure to get A-list celebrities to perform at the inauguration, there is the similar pop culture elevation of Bernhard Langer, a two-time Masters champion who has been swept up in politics because an acquaintance of his may have not been able to vote. The New York Times account is of an absurdist quality, as Trump used the anecdote involving Langer to illustrate to members of congress the need for an investigation into voter fraud that nobody actually believes occurred.
Langer has now issued a statement clarifying the story, saying he never spoke to Trump and the media has “misconstrued” the story. The scary thing is that Trump did the same, and is basically using an anecdotal version of the kid’s game of broken telephone to inform his policy making.
With Super Bowl Sunday next weekend, Trump’s connections with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick likely form a new axis of evil for some NFL fans. Both have fielded questions about Trump since the election when he invoked their names, and Brady had a “Make America Great Again” hat displayed in his locker.
Brady has subsequently avoided elaborating on their relationship, recently telling Boston radio station WEEI: “Why does everybody make such a big deal? I don’t understand it.” Which set off a string of articles by writers explaining why they feel it does matter.
Two NBA coaches, the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich and Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr, have both been asked questions in their media availability and spoken wonderfully about their fears and concerns for America.
There is a new age of athletic activism underway, and while much of it has been focused on athletes speaking out about the deaths of young black men by police, it is likely only a matter of time before athletes get more involved in speaking out — and potentially for — Trump.
UFC fighter Ronda Rousey has reportedly already driven an RV filled with supplies to North Dakota to help protesters at Standing Rock that are trying to stop the pipeline that Trump just signed an executive order to continue building.
The obvious story that will become a big deal is when an athlete from a championship team refuses to take part in the traditional post-victory visit to the White House. LeBron James, who has been increasingly using his platform to speak about causes and social issues, has already said he’s undecided about going if the Cleveland Cavaliers win another NBA title saying, “We’ll have to cross that road, I guess. We’ll see. I would love to have to cross that road.”
There are precedents, with the most recent being Tim Thomas, the former Bruins goalie and Tea Party supporter who made a point of issuing a statement in 2011 about why he was exercising his individual rights by choosing not to visit Obama’s White House. It is likely that Trump’s response to someone making a similar decision will be vindictive, considering his previous reactions to feeling slighted.
Trump’s true gift to sports is of a much lighter nature. His administration is already a meme machine, and is providing all kinds of punchlines online and a stream of perfect dad jokes for play-by-play men and announcers alike.
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway’s use of the term “alternative facts” has spread across the sports world. The University of Tennessee created an “alternative facts” section in their media notes that included a line about how forward Kyle Alexander only started playing basketball after seeing the Michael J. Fox film Teen Wolf, which was hopefully a sweet Canadian in-joke as the former is from Milton, Ont.
Last week’s controversy over participation numbers involving the inauguration and the Women’s March on Washington led the Dallas Stars’ in-arena staff to have some fun, posting 1.5 million on the Jumbotron as the night’s attendance.
Trump’s presidency is just getting started. Being the sports fan-inchief is a role he is sure to embrace, and seeing as he has no problems letting us know exactly what he’s thinking, there will be no end to the cheers and jeers emanating from the White House.