I watched most of HBO's Real Sports last night for the first time since, well, since I saw that the execrable Bryant Gumbel was its host. Mr. Gumbel finished the show last night with his personal commentary on the lack of athletes who are publicly taking political stands these days. He asked, where are the Muhammad Ali's, the Tommy Smith's and John Carlos', the Jim Brown's, and the Billie Jean King's. Mr. Gumbel accused them all of being too interested in their seven figures to act as responsible public figures.
I would liked to have been a fly on the wall when Mr. Gumbel heard about Curt Schilling's "Vote for Bush" comment yesterday on Good Morning America? How pleased do you think Bryant would be if lots of athletes suddenly announced their support for President George W. Bush, tax cuts, school vouchers, the Patriot Act, or heaven forbid, the Liberation of Iraq?
Oh, and as for the greedy athletes Mr. Gumbel, ever heard of Pat Tillman?
Dead right on, on every count. Gumbel longs for the day of the radical, like every other aging '60's leftover. Of course, at the same time as Ali there was Joe Frazier going to the White House; Smith and Carlos were offset by George Foreman pulling out the US flag; Jim Brown played at the same time as Mike Ditka, a self-described conservative.
So it's not political activism he longs for-- it's liberal activism he longs for.
Posted by: Tony Iovino at 08:45 PM