# Sportswriting is overwhelmingly liberal, accurate? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 20, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343 "2017-02-20T20:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/21 "2017-02-22T11:10:13Z")
The days of the hard-drinking, show up at the stadium two hours before game time are fast coming to an end. There are fewer writers so they have to write more stories, then get up early to appear on radio and TV shows. As such, management wants more clean living types. The three I know (two writers and a play ny play guy) are all younger, religious, don’t drink and are very conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/22 "2017-02-25T21:46:36Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > How does one get even have a “conservative” or a “liberal” slant in covering organized sports? Millionaire players vs billionaire owners. Collective bargaining, owner collusion, restraint of trade. Ticket prices and scalping regulation Race discrimination, tokenism, affirmative action. Impacts of historical discrimination. Gender discrimination, equality of opportunity vs equality of outcomes. Team names (London Irish, Fighting Irish, Glasgow Celtic, Washington Redskins), ethnic pride vs jingoism. Offensive cheers and songs. It’s also not all professional sport. College sport is huge business, much of it involving state institutions. Mixing sport, business and social goals, endless fun. Rather odd question from a Pakistani cricket fan. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/23 "2017-02-26T00:34:56Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Millionaire players vs billionaire owners. > Collective bargaining, owner collusion, restraint of trade. > Ticket prices and scalping regulation > Race discrimination, tokenism, affirmative action. Impacts of historical discrimination. > Gender discrimination, equality of opportunity vs equality of outcomes. > Team names (London Irish, Fighting Irish, Glasgow Celtic, Washington Redskins), ethnic pride vs jingoism. Offensive cheers and songs. > > It’s also not all professional sport. College sport is huge business, much of it involving state institutions. Mixing sport, business and social goals, endless fun. > > Rather odd question from a Pakistani cricket fan. Indeed, the history of major sports would be woefully incomplete without inclusion of the political, economic and cultural changes that have occurred along the way. Maybe we should try to first define what constitutes a liberal outlook on sports coverage versus a conservative one. If I recall the details of the Bryan Curtis (whose work I enjoy very much) article linked to, it pointed out that sports writers of 40-50 years ago were mostly opposed to the abolition of baseball’s reserve clause, a fairly laughable stance when viewed with today’s knowledge in hand. Is Jay Bilas considered liberal because of his attacks on the structure of big time college athletics? And are the traditionalists who favor maintenance of the status quo conservatives? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/24 "2017-02-26T04:29:03Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Millionaire players vs billionaire owners. > Collective bargaining, owner collusion, restraint of trade. > Ticket prices and scalping regulation > Race discrimination, tokenism, affirmative action. Impacts of historical discrimination. > Gender discrimination, equality of opportunity vs equality of outcomes. > Team names (London Irish, Fighting Irish, Glasgow Celtic, Washington Redskins), ethnic pride vs jingoism. Offensive cheers and songs. > > It’s also not all professional sport. College sport is huge business, much of it involving state institutions. Mixing sport, business and social goals, endless fun. > > Rather odd question from a Pakistani cricket fan. That’s about _politics in sports_ or sports own internal politics. The OP is about Sports writers or personal preference political views on influencing their reporting of the gameplay. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/25 "2017-02-27T21:58:17Z")
Seems more like part of a growing trend by a subset of conservatives to desperately portray themselves as victims oppressed by teh evil libruls. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/26 "2017-02-28T13:51:31Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Seems more like part of a growing trend by a subset of conservatives to desperately portray themselves as victims oppressed by teh evil libruls. Did you read the linked article on the OP? Curious how you came to your conclusion, if indeed you did. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/27 "2017-02-28T15:57:26Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > That’s about _politics in sports_ or sports own internal politics. The OP is about Sports writers or personal preference political views on influencing their reporting of the gameplay. I don’t think this is true. In fact, if you read the linked article, one of its key points is precisely that “reporting of the gameplay” has become a relatively insignificant part of sports reporting in the era of on-demand cable and internet viewing. Because sports reporters no longer have to spend as much time describing what happened on the field, they are left with more time to talk about the environment in which the games are played, and that includes the political environment. Calling a home run, or describing a screen play on first down, or explaining a 4-slips 2-gullies fielding arrangement, or analyzing a zone defense that allowed an easy 3-point attempt, are all pretty much inherently apolitical. But sports journalists spend a lot of their time talking about the other stuff. You argue that we’re not really talking about “politics in sports or sports own internal politics,” but that’s what this whole conversation is about. Just look at the examples given in the article. As for the general point the argument is making, i think there’s probably some validity to it, although i also tend to agree with **RickJay** about the general focus of sports journalism. If there’s a problem with a lot of sports writing, it’s not so much that it avoids politics; it’s that it often avoids any sort of real analysis or criticism, in favor of stupid conventional wisdom or feel-good stories. If sports reporting has become more liberal—and i think you could make the argument—i think that overt liberalism is still largely confined to outlets that are not the major presenters of the actual sports themselves. There’s plenty of liberal sports commentary on Deadspin, but, as the story suggests, you still don’t see much criticism of the overt militarism of sporting events on FOX or NBC. And, among the sports networks, another journalistic problem that also sometimes becomes political is the competing benefits (and drawbacks) of access versus accountability. The problem with ESPN, for example, is that it is almost a completely access-focused organization, and as a result is usually incredibly bad at accountability journalism, at least when those who need to be held accountable are the same people and the same organizations to whom the station wants access. The sports leagues themselves recognize this, and do everything they can to cultivate the access side of the relationship, knowing that it compromises accountability reporting. Hell, in Washington, Dan Snyder goes even further, spending money to employ formerly-critical reporters, to buy up critical organizations, and to co-opt the rest by spending advertising money with them. ---
**Author:** ![Beren\_Erchamion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@Beren\_Erchamion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beren_Erchamion)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/28 "2017-02-28T17:42:41Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But today? There are no more Dick Youngs. There aren’t even many apolitical sports commentators. Most sports writers are very liberal and are eager to insert their political opinions, even when they’re wholly irrelevant to a story. In a pluralistic democracy, everything is inherently political. Politics are therefore _never_ irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Beren\_Erchamion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@Beren\_Erchamion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beren_Erchamion)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/29 "2017-02-28T17:44:40Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > So, yeah, sportswriting is absolutely political, but it’s not in a vacuum. You literally cannot have a public voice and NOT be. Which is sad and not right. I disagree–I think that’s exactly as it should be. This is a participatory, pluralistic democracy. If you’re going to participate in the public sphere, you have an obligation to not be neutral, because neutrality is complicity with evil. ---
**Author:** ![Beren\_Erchamion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@Beren\_Erchamion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beren_Erchamion)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/30 "2017-02-28T17:49:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > That’s about _politics in sports_ or sports own internal politics. The OP is about Sports writers or personal preference political views on influencing their reporting of the gameplay. If you’re reporting on the broader social ramifications or implications of things that play out in sports, then your reporting of it is inherently going to be colored by the lens through which you see the world. And as long as you’re not using that lens to make stuff up, or ignore stuff that challenges an easy narrative, _there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that_. Objectivity is impossible, and frankly even if it were possible it’d be useless since it’d be nothing more than a regurgitating of decontextualized (because contextualization involves a necessarily-subjective process of deciding what is and is not relevant) factoids. And since the purpose of reporting is not to simply recite facts like trivia, but to actually construct narratives that give meaning and coherence to what happened, then you’re not going to be able to avoid drawing relationships between what happened in the game and the broader world in which the game took place. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/31 "2017-02-28T20:07:02Z")
One of the conclusions that Curtis reaches is that the more one looks at a subject, the more likely one is to reach a “liberal” conclusion. It would be interesting to hear from conservative writers about this and debate Curtis on how a deep examination of college “amateurism,” for example, would result in a writer concluding that it is a system that must be salvaged. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/32 "2017-03-01T12:59:11Z")
The sports media aren’t just liberal on sports related subjects, nor are conservatives particularly enamored of the NCAA sports monopoly. The stringers who write the summaries of last night’s ballgame rarely have a political agenda. But practically every sports columnist or ESPN commentator I can think of regularly interject liberal opinions on subjects unrelated to sports. Not since the death of Dick Young have I encountered a commentator who interjects conservative opinions. The media in general are liberal, and the sports media are no different. Think how ESPN came down on Brett Favre for not standing and applauding long enough for Bruce Jenner. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/33 "2017-03-01T21:23:58Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Not since the death of Dick Young have I encountered a commentator who interjects conservative opinions. Have you been actively avoiding ESPN then? Curt Schilling? How about when MNF had Rush Limbaugh? Or Dennis Miller? Locally, I get a pretty distant Cincinnati Reds broadcast signal. Their radio announcer Marty Brennaman is very outspokenly conservative. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/34 "2017-03-01T21:28:48Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Have you been actively avoiding ESPN then? Curt Schilling? How about when MNF had Rush Limbaugh? Or Dennis Miller? > > Locally, I get a pretty distant Cincinnati Reds broadcast signal. Their radio announcer Marty Brennaman is very outspokenly conservative. How long did Limbaugh or Schilling stay employed? Miller was a separate case- regardless of politics, he was AWFUL!!! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343/35 "2017-03-03T23:22:04Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > How does one get even have a “conservative” or a “liberal” slant in covering organized sports? As a former sports journalist myself (the irony, it burns - but that’s life on small town newspapers) it’s possible to do, albeit generally not in the form of an actual match report. Lots of the major sporting codes here are making big strides in women’s sport and inclusiveness (ie acknowleding that women like the game as much as men, recognising their contributions at club level, promoting them as players, etc). Obviously “Women’s Stuff™” is generally regarded as a Liberal Thing, so reporting on that in an openly fawning kind of way could be seen as having a liberal slant - as reporting on it with a “Harumph, why aren’t they in the canteen making sandwiches for the men?” tone would be a conservative slant. There’s also different ways to report on things like sports grants, applications for funding, new faciliites, stuff like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswriting-is-overwhelmingly-liberal-accurate/780343.md?page=1)