Playing Games

Before the first four games of the WNBA Finals, players and coaches of the two teams, the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream, in defiance of the anthem rule still on the books, left the court just before the playing of the national anthem. According to the Valkyries’ coach, it’s just part of the pregame routine; she spends those 90 seconds focused on her plays. Right. Following that, and perhaps in support of it, LeBron James appeared to practice his golf swing during the national anthem. Distinctly juvenile. And, of course, during the summer we had Celeste Keaton, a co-owner of the WNBA Seattle Storm—that city of tolerance that became a war zone in 2020—shouting obscenities at young girls during a game because they had a different opinion. The league told the owner to go to a corner for a five-game “time out.”

Please don’t tell me that sports build character.

The question is: what were the players trying to say? What was their point? Were they trying to say something against the United States? My guess is that their recent behavior is directed at President Trump. But here’s the irony: the national anthem stands for our nation, not for President Trump. To equate him with the national anthem is odd for people who, you would think, are also on board with the “No Kings” movement, because it makes the particular person of the chief executive correspond to the nation, which is what a monarchy is. Perhaps such subtle thinking is beyond these players.

As for LeBron James, his actions can only be called childish. He was saying, as surely as a sixth grader, “Look at ME.” Once again, we see a public figure acting in a way that would (I hope) not be allowed in an elementary school, but excused or applauded because he or she is either in public office or is making an exorbitant amount of money for a particular talent. Will he be disciplined? No. And now we can once again expect athletes down the chain into high school emulating the icon and expecting (and probably receiving) the same pass.

I enjoy sports and have played them throughout my life. They represent a unique place in our culture because they are one of the few things that bring together various parts of our society. You can find persons of any political or religious view, of any race or sexual orientation at just about any sporting event. They provide moments of great national unity, as was seen with the Olympic hockey teams of 1980 and 2026. They can show inspiring examples of determination, discipline, and teamwork. Yet here’s another irony: as sports have become more inclusive in their followers, they have become more exclusive in their participants. The more we have glorified the games in our culture, the more we have separated those who play them from the common life of our culture.

Much of this has to do with the money we pay them, rightly or wrongly. You can argue whether athletes should be paid what they are paid, but you can’t argue with the fact that extreme wealth separates people from the life that most of us live. That separation includes the way they live and the behavior that is allowed them. While “superstars” can come from any walk of life, once they get to be a superstar, they are in a rarefied echelon of entitlement. What starts out as lessons in discipline and teamwork becomes a playbook of “all about ME.” If at one time we turned a blind eye to the antics of Babe Ruth or Joe Namath, today we coddle (an apt term for babies), if not celebrate them.

There was a time when professional athletes were part of the community. They actually had other jobs in the off-season. While Johnny Unitas played for the Baltimore Colts, he also owned a local bowling alley and bar and installed linoleum floors to make ends meet. Yogi Berra worked as a Sears hardware salesman.

I have to wonder if these athletes and owners live in communities that are plagued by gang violence; if they’ve lost their jobs because illegal immigrants are taking them away; if they are scratching to make ends meet as taxes and other social costs go up to pay for the mess created by all this; if their daughters have lost games and potential scholarships because of boys who think they are girls. On second thought, I don’t have to ask because the answer is “No.” Whether or not these athletes deserve their money, it is beyond question that their money has made them immune from the problems that most of us face.

Athletes, like anyone else, have a right to voice their opinion in the proper way. They can support their own causes just as everyone else can. The problem is it seems many people in sports today think the proper way is any way they choose and don’t seem to have any idea how everyone else, at least anyone who is civilized, behaves. Many call their behavior disgraceful. That is one way of phrasing it. I call it sad. I think it is sad for them, for their sport, and for the people who support them. I call it sad because ingratitude is a sad thing. It reveals selfishness, disrespect, and a lack of character: the opposite of the very things we tell ourselves make sports so great.

I have been writing about professional athletes, but we have to face the fact that that line is more blurred than ever. It is practically nonexistent today. With the “NIL” and transfer portal, the corruption of athletics is part and parcel of college athletics and even secondary school athletics. You think Indiana won the NCAA football championship last year? Indiana bought the national championship last year. You think little Tommy is playing at Notre Dame or North Carolina because he loves the tradition and values of the school, because he grew up dreaming of wearing the school colors or beating hated rivals? No, he is playing for whoever and wherever he can get the most bucks and a shot at even more money. And if he doesn’t get them there, he’ll just quit and go somewhere else. Go team. The schools, and I use the term loosely (very loosely), deserve blame as well. University administrations have allowed their schools to become glorified gladiatorial arenas where coaches and players are—let’s face it—bought and sold to bring attention to places which are supposed to be for education. And, while we’re at it, let’s be brutal: many of those players who are being churned up and spit out are of a race that schools supposedly support with their DEI programs. It gets even more farcical when the WNBA—the WOMEN’s National Basketball Association—can’t even define what a “woman” is. Perhaps they should ask those teenage girls Celeste Keaton was screaming at.

So, what is to be done? President Trump, who, as usual, did not help matters with his typical hyperbolic rhetoric, called for a boycott of the WNBA. It won’t happen. Much like a church that allows abuse to happen as long as the money comes in, professional sports and their supporters (and, as I said, this includes secondary schools for all intents and purposes) will turn a blind eye as long as they get their cut. Making more rules won’t help because, as the behavior of the WNBA and LeBron James shows, rules don’t apply if you have privilege. That’s what this is about: privilege. Sports, once touted as the place where character was formed, has become an epicenter of privilege. Unfortunately, this tarnishes the thousands of athletes and coaches who have used sports for the right reasons. I feel sad for them as their efforts are becoming diminished.

I had a friend who, as a senior, was suspended from the football team for the season because his coach caught him drinking a beer in August. The coach was his father. That’s character building. We could use more of it.