As you look in on your favorite team, what do you see? Is it only the fact that your team is down two in the bottom of the ninth and the bases are loaded with two out? Are you praying because your Yankees are down three games in the standings to the dreaded BoSox with only four games left to play? There is something else that you have witnessed ever since 1947. Have you seen it?
In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” in the modern era of major league baseball. Seventy years ago. And in the interim, every major team sport has dropped its barriers based upon race, ethnicity, or religion. Do you know what they did not do? They did not change the rules. Jackie wasn’t called out after two strikes. He didn’t have to touch five bases to score. They didn’t move back the fences when he got into the batter's box. Yes, everything was thrown at him… bean balls, epithets, death threats… you name it. But the one thing they didn’t do was change the rules. And that is the point.
What you have been watching in the modern era of team sports, is that the rules are the same for everyone. And when the first pitch is thrown, the ball kicked or tipped, everyone plays under the same rules. Many have excelled in their sport, and many more have failed (I am a lifelong Cubs fan, so I am acquainted with failure in team sports). But everyone did so playing by the same rules. And each game, the moment it began, saw teams united in common purpose to achieve their goal.
I am under no illusion that team sports provide a look at a perfected society. Acceptance of gay athletes has been too long in the process, and is still incomplete. Are there players who harbor dark thoughts about their teammates? Surely so. But when the ball is in the air, that doesn’t matter. For the duration of the game, through their collective efforts the joy and the sorrow are shared equally.
Maybe what we are seeing in the past few weeks, is that athletes know the world “between the lines” so well, a world which shows what can be if the rules are the same for everyone, and that they don’t understand how their fans cannot see that; after all, we have been watching them faithfully for years. And so first it was Colin, then scores, and now hundreds are saying, “Look. Listen.” Are their means or message perfected? No. But they weren’t given the opportunity for long thoughtful conversations about a course of action. Donald Trump saw to that. And so they were put in a position where they felt that they had to respond without the deliberation they might have preferred. So their means may not have served their message well. But can’t we for a moment consider their intent?
Intent matters. That is why we don’t charge someone with first degree murder every time someone is responsible for another’s death. I was frankly dismayed when reading through the comment thread on the posting of the statement of the Green Bay Packers players this week. If you read the statement, the intent is clear in this excerpt:
“Those of us joining arms on Thursday will be different in so many ways, but one thing that binds us together is that we are all individuals who want to help make our society, our country and our world a better place. We believe that in diversity there can be UNI-versity. Intertwined, we represent the many people who helped build this country, and we are joining together to show that we are ready to continue to build.”
Read more: http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/article-press-release/article-1/Statement-from-the-Green-Bay-Packers-players/d745d3ad-bfa7-4e74-9130-b3180b0171be#ixzz4u0FLFHI2
In their statement, there was no anger expressed. There was no hatred. No disrespect. Only hope and a plea for coming together. And in the comments, nothing but an outpouring of bile and hatred. Certainly no appreciation of the intent. I am a Packers fan, and proud of my team for the position they have taken. As regards those who responded with derision, I’ve got just one question. What have you been watching all these years?
A special thank-you and shout out to Krotor for pointing out that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the modern era of major league baseball. For more about the history of African American baseball players, make sure you check out Krotor's post in the comments below.