More athletes and coaches are choosing to address political issues
More pro athletes and coaches choose to address political issues
San Francisco Giants general manager Bobby Evans’ annual welcome-back-from-winter speech to his team included a fresh twist this year: Be careful what you say about politics.
Evans was well aware of athletes and coaches in other sports making headlines for their political views or alliances, from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick to Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr. So Evans, speaking to Giants players and coaches Feb. 9 at AT&T Park, warned them they might face similar questions.
They were free to voice their opinions, Evans said, but he reminded them they play in the famously diverse Bay Area and should consider the possible impact.
“We just reminded everyone these are very sensitive times and very divisive issues,” Evans said in an interview with The Chronicle during spring training. “As much as there are going to be differing opinions in the public, there are going to be differing opinions in the clubhouse. So let’s not let that divide us.”
This reflects the hyper-partisan climate of 2017, in which politics are an omnipresent and
highly charged part of the American landscape — and sports do not count as an escape from reality.
The Giants are one of several Major League Baseball teams to raise the topic with their players this spring. One National Football League team even enacted an unofficial ban last season on talking about the presidential election, according to si.com, because some older players found the debates “too incendiary.” Among recent examples: Six New England Patriots players have said they will not attend the Super Bowl champion’s traditional White House visit. This comes in the wake of President Trump touting the support of Brady and Belichick, the NFL’s most decorated quarterback and head coach, during an election-eve rally in November.
Kerr and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich publicly criticized Trump on issues ranging from his comments about minorities and women to his proposed travel ban prohibiting immigration from several Muslim-majority countries.
Curry, a two-time MVP and one of the NBA’s most popular players, jumped into the fray last month after Under Armour chief executive officer Kevin Plank called Trump “a real asset” to the country. Curry has a lucrative endorsement contract with Under Armour.
“I agree with that description,” he told the San Jose Mercury News, “if you remove ‘et’ ” from asset.
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler encountered social-media backlash after calling Trump’s travel ban “unfortunate.” Fowler’s wife is from Iran, one of the countries included in both versions of the proposed ban, which prompted the family’s decision not to take their young daughter to visit relatives there.
Former Giants first baseman/ outfielder Aubrey Huff mixed it up on Facebook and Twitter, expressing his support for Trump and ripping protesters who gathered at airports in opposition to the travel ban.
Huff is more than four years removed from the end of his major-league career, but the willingness of today’s marquee athletes to wade into turbulent political waters offers a new dimension to locker-room dynamics. Could this affect the team chemistry every coach covets?
The 49ers provided a test case: When quarterback Colin Kaepernick stirred controversy last season by taking a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality, some players initially were upset. Kaepernick later addressed his teammates as a group, and despite whatever difference of opinion they might have had, they voted him winner of the Len Eshmont Award for inspiration and courageous play, considered the team’s highest honor.
The Warriors built their wild success the past few seasons, in part, on cohesiveness. Kerr also has been especially outspoken about President Trump, a stance that probably resonates more in the NBA, in which players — a majority of whom are African American — tend to lean to the left politically.
Even so, Kerr insisted “it’s not like we’re coming in here and having a rally.” The Warriors naturally devote most of their time and effort to basketball, even if Kerr encourages conversations about larger issues. He also occasionally invites guest speakers: sociologist Harry Edwards and author Michael Lewis are among those who have addressed the team this season.
“I think guys talk amongst themselves a lot more now about politics, just like we all do,” Kerr said. “Even five years ago, I didn’t really talk much about politics. I read stuff and followed it, but there wasn’t much controversy.
“Now it seems like it’s every day, because we have this assault going on in our society in terms of a media blitz — every day it’s something spectacular. Or a blitz is coming from Trump himself, or from media calling Trump out. Then there’s all the fallout from that, where people are so angry on both sides.
“It’s hard not to have it be part of your day.” Former Giants third-base coach Tim Flannery witnessed firsthand the intersection of sports and politics. Flannery played on the 1984 San Diego Padres team that reached the World Series with three starting pitchers — Eric Show, Dave Dravecky and Mark Thurmond — who were members of the ultra-conservative John Birch Society.
This became public in the middle of the season. Flannery insisted it wasn’t a big distraction in the clubhouse, though he suspected it took a lot of the pitchers’ energy. Mostly, other players joked with Show, Dravecky and Thurmond about their political views.
“I didn’t know enough about it to start a fight about it,” Flannery said.
More than 30 years later, the standard baseball response to political differences remains the same: stay quiet or make jokes. Major-league players generally tilt to the right politically, Flannery said, so he wasn’t surprised when some Giants frequently criticized President Barack Obama during his time in office.
Then, when the team visited the White House after its World Series titles in 2010, ’12 and ’14, Flannery couldn’t help himself. He kidded the players who routinely ripped Obama, telling them, “Go ahead, guys, there he is. Say what you feel.” Nobody did, of course.
President Obama’s eight years in the White House, not coincidentally, sparked an increase in political involvement among professional athletes. His administration sought high-profile players’ support for various initiatives, according to a story last month in New York magazine. One byproduct: Obama developed a connection with four-time NBA MVP LeBron James, who advocated for the Affordable Care Act and also spoke out about police brutality and racial injustice.
Still, if James led a wave of NBA activism, major-league clubhouses typically offer a more eclectic mix of people, backgrounds and beliefs. Consider the A’s.
Pitcher Sean Doolittle and his now-fiancee, Eireann Dolan, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for Syrian refugee families in November 2015. Another pitcher, Ryan Madson, has defended President Trump and his plans to build a wall along the Mexican border. Outfielder Khris Davis, whose mom is from Mexico, worries about Trump’s immigration policies.
“We’re built on immigration, that’s the whole idea,” Davis said. “It sucks when it comes down to it.”
To hear A’s players, though, these hot-button issues do not interfere with the business of baseball. Doolittle, who called himself an independent, acknowledged more political conversations are taking place now than in previous seasons, mostly because there really were no political conversations in previous seasons.
Doolittle suggested the discussions typically arise in the wake of situations like Fowler’s, when a pro athlete’s comments are amplified swiftly and powerfully through social media, for better or worse.
“Just because an athlete shares his opinion on something cultural or political doesn’t mean he’s grandstanding in the clubhouse,” Doolittle said. “Guys aren’t actively recruiting teammates to their cause or doing stump speeches in front of their locker trying to change guys’ opinions. …
“We recognize we may hold different beliefs and come from different backgrounds, but we are still working toward a common goal of winning ballgames.”
Madson shares the same bullpen with Doolittle but probably not the same political views. Madson described himself as a Constitutional conservative and praised many of Trump’s campaign promises in a USA Today story in July.
At the same time, Madson makes a conscious effort to separate baseball and politics. If he hears a teammate say something with which he disagrees, he usually doesn’t respond out of concern the conversation might become “too emotional.”
As for Trump, Madson considers the barrage of splashy headlines a function of entertainment more than anything else.
“It’s news because he’s entertaining and not a normal president,” Madson said. “That gets attention every day. I would just say: Be respectful of everyone and everyone’s opinion. I’m not trying to change anyone and I’m not asking anyone to think like me.”
Giants catcher Buster Posey echoed his A’s counterparts, saying occasional political conversations among players have created no discord. He did pay attention when Plank, the Under Armour CEO, took heat for his pro-Trump comments; Posey, like Curry, has an endorsement deal with the company.
Posey studied the issue in case he was asked about it, but he chose not to discuss it voluntarily.
Posey, like a handful of his teammates, grew up in the South (Georgia), where the conservative majority stands in sharp contrast to the ever-liberal Bay Area. He appreciates those differences and wants to expose his kids to multiple views.
“I think it’s good for them to see there are going to be disagreements,” Posey said. “That’s how progress is made. When you disagree to the point it becomes irrational on both sides, that’s when you get stuck.”