This past week my wife and I ate a late lunch at a Rochelle restaurant to watch the beginning of one of the Cubs playoff games. A stranger struck up a conversation and questioned the idea of watching baseball while so many bad things were going on in our country and world.
“These games are meaningless. I just don’t get it. They’re not helping anyone or anything, they’re just playing a game and for some reason people are watching it. But it’s not accomplishing a darned thing,” he said.
I begged–  pleaded, really–  to differ. Watching sports accomplishes something quite wonderful and profound, I argued. It connects people. Watching sports is a reprieve from life, a respite from our troubles, a needed break in the various battles we are all engaged in on the numerous fronts of our lives.
It’s true that the games themselves don’t directly affect 99 percent of fans’ lives at that particular moment, but I argued that personal consequences to and for fans isn’t the point of sports; the point of sports, for fans, is escapism. People can escape from politics, from personal troubles and from consequential conflict.
When I’m watching a baseball playoff game, I don’t want to think about who the pitcher voted for in the last election. I’m really not concerned with the political beliefs of the right fielder either, even if they’re the same as mine.
Same goes for football or basketball – the idea as a fan is to pay exclusive attention to the game itself, to care about the outcome. Is your team going to win? What’s going to happen on this very next play? Will it be a pass or a run?

It’s the bottom of the ninth inning of a one-run elimination playoff game with two strikes on the best hitter on the team… will Bryce Harper strike out and send the Cubs to the NLCS, or will he hit a home run and send the game to extra innings?
When you can feel your heart racing and your blood pumping in anticipation of the unknown with either extreme disappointment or extreme elation awaiting each and every fan and in only a matter of seconds we’ll know what happens… and the pitch…
The stranger who we spoke with had just gotten back from Key West, Fla., and he said that the damage there was astronomical. I don’t doubt that it was.
We had a long discussion about the different people affected, how some had insurance and some didn’t, and how the recovery there is going to take years, not months. I legitimately cared. But then I asked him what he was doing at the bar, and he said “I’ve spent weeks down there, and now I’m back, and I just want to come my favorite bar, and blow off a little steam.”
Well, that’s why most people go to bars and restaurants — to take little breaks from life. To relax. “That’s why I’m here too” I explained. “To relax. I talk about politics and news and bad stuff and conflict every day, and occasionally, to give my mind a break, I do things like to watch sports. And when I’m watching sports, as much as I care about important issues and events going on in country and world, I don’t want to talk or think about them at that particular time. I want to instead care about the game. About who’s pitching. About which wide receivers are injured and how many consecutive wins this will be for this particular team.
It doesn’t affect my life at all, you’re right. But that’s kind of the point. When this game is over, I’ll go back to my life. It doesn’t mean I don’t care about the people in Key West or Puerto Rico or Las Vegas or people in my own life who I have major responsibilities to– it’s not all mutually exclusive.
My problems and concerns will be there waiting when this game is over, but for the next nine innings, four quarters or three periods, I’d like to put problems and concerns on the shelf, thank you very much. I don’t think I converted my friend to a sports fan in that particular moment, but I hope he at least understood where I was coming from.
I suspect one of the biggest reasons people have had such problems with the NFL kneelers — beyond the offensive disrespect to the flag and National Anthem — is the timing and physical location of the protests. Keapernick knelt on the field of play, right before the game. Muhammad Ali took some very controversial political stands while he was the greatest boxer in the world, and many of the modern athlete-activists hold Ali in the highest regard and as a role model. Ali used his platform and celebrity to bring attention to causes he believed in, but it’s no coincidence that he never made speeches or gestures (like kneeling) in the boxing ring itself. He spoke behind podiums while wearing a suit, and sometimes even in pre or post-match interviews. But never in the ring itself.
Maybe Ali had too much respect for the particular sport that made him famous to do such a thing, and more importantly, maybe he understood the whole reason people watch and follow sports to begin with. There was a time and place for his message, and he definitely got his political messages out, far and wide, and for better or worse.
Hopefully athletes in all sports will take some lessons from the whole NFL kneeling fiasco and realize that the extreme blowback the kneelers received maybe wasn’t only about disrespect for the National Anthem, U.S. flag, and country, but also disrespect to the sport itself that made them famous.

Michael Koolidge lives in Rochelle and hosts the regionally syndicated radio program The Michael Koolidge Show (www.koolidge.com) heard daily on ten radio stations statewide, including Rockford’s 1440 WROK from 9 to 11 a.m. live every weekday morning. Mike will host his annual Christmas Party (open to the public) on Friday, Dec. 1 at Salt 251 in Rochelle. Public officials and citizens can reach the show anytime at radio@koolidge.com or 815-561-7130.