Sometimes you catch the end of a news story, after it bounces around the Internet a bit, and it’s all very confusing. This description applies to a lot of cultural controversies in the sports space, which can make exposition a challenge on this site. There’s often an intense partisan battle over whatever slogan a league or team broadcasts and suddenly, the story’s context has developed layers and contradictory “scissor” narratives. What actually happened? It’s not about that. It’s instead about what should happen, details be damned, and how sports should get us there.
In theory, there are no stakes in fights like the one we’ll begin with. It’s all pure symbolism within what Pat Riley once termed, “The Toy Department of Human Events.” In practice, the fights are vicious, angrily intense on account of a paradox: Sports is perceived as both a neutral meeting ground and also an intensely powerful propaganda keep. The battles are over nothing, but the prize is the most valued messaging territory. That’s the game within the games.
Read Full Article »