Sports.

I HAVE HEARD the complaints all before, most recently from Peace Corps Volunteers, usually female, who flee when the topic is broached.
“Sports? How can you talk so much about sports? Why do people care so much about sports? They are a waste of time.”
Other remarks demonstrate I have been wrongfully categorized. “Drew, you don’t seem like the kind of person who likes sports.”
In an attempt to inform the latter what kind of person I am and convince the former I have the expertise needed to answer their questions, let me relate my personal history with this topic.
I first defended the intrinsic value of sports—or as the British say, sport—in my high school sports column. Challenged by an arrogant, argumentative classmate to defend sports’ place in American society, I disputed his claims on one of the sports pages I edited every two weeks. As a junior, I was sports editor of my high school newspaper the HiLite, and I had lots of Greyhound action to cover. At Carmel High School, whose athletics program was recently rated the tenth best in the nation by Sports Illustrated, sports are a serious matter, for better or for worse, as I got to know by writing about a star soccer player’s arrest for selling LSD during the State playoffs and the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision to rescind a Carmel boys’ swimming State title because its star was ultimately declared academically ineligible. That year, like any other, sports were on my mind, and even today, in Niger, on the computer in my office, I checked the weekend baseball scores, the British Open results, and Lance Armstrong’s progress in the Tour de France.
Now that I have proved to you my experience, I must convince the skeptics of sports’ significance:
Consider sports as a cultural force. They are an integral part of any culture, and the Olympics serve as one of the few venues where the world may congregate peacefully. And, as much as the Olympics would like to avoid politics, their significance in that realm cannot be overlooked:
* Berlin 1936: Jesse Owens embarrasses Aryan-loving Adolf Hitler by winning four gold medals in track events.
* Mexico City 1968: While on the medal stand after the 200 meters, gold medal winner Tommie Smith and bronze medal winner John Carlos protest racism in the U. S. by bowing their heads and raising clenched fists.
* Munich 1972: Violence mars the Games. Palestinian terrorists kidnap Israeli athletes. Two Israelis are killed during the kidnapping, and then all nine hostages die in the ensuing shootout.
* 1976 Montreal: Because of New Zealand’s rugby tour of apartheid-era South Africa, twenty African nations, led by Tanzania, threaten to boycott the Games if that the International Olympic Committee do not ban the Kiwis from the Games. The IOC refuses, stating that it holds no authority over the matter because rugby is not an Olympic sport; as a result, the nations boycott.
* Moscow 1980: The United States, along with 55 other nations, stay at home, protesting Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
* Los Angeles 1984: The U.S.S.R. and thirteen countries return the favor while China competes for the first time in more than 30 years.
* Barcelona 1992: The Unified Team, comprised of all the former Soviet Republics, compete as one, while the Baltic Republics field their first teams in years. South Africa competes for the first time since 1960.
* Beijing 2008: China has the world’s undivided attention for two weeks.
* London 2012: Upsetting the frontrunner Paris, Britain shows that it is the power in Europe.
Even when you look at the events I checked on today, it is clear how sports mirror important events occurring in contemporary life.
* Baseball: The number of blacks participating in the game has been declining, while the number of Hispanics playing in the Majors has increased. This trend in America’s pastime exemplifies how Hispanics have become the largest minority group in America today.
* The British Open: Tiger Woods has captured another major golf tournament. Tiger’s father is black; his mother is Thai. His ethnic makeup shows color lines are becoming increasingly blurred.
* Tour de France: Lance Armstrong has raised millions of dollars for cancer research, and his seventh victory will likely raise millions more.
Lastly, consider the continent where I now reside. Before I came here, if you put an unlabelled map in front of me, I could not name many countries on it. Now I can. I
If you were to ask me to name all the African athletes I knew, I would be hard pressed to name a few. Granted, I am not a soccer fan, but, still, the list would not that long.
Let me try. A few come to mind in the NBA—Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutumbo, and Manute Bol—and Freddy Adu in MLS. That is all.
Now consider this fact. The Olympics have never taken place in Africa, and in 2010, South Africa will host Africa’s first World Cup.
If you are still not convinced, I invite you to South Africa in 2010. I can only imagine how the country will respond then.