The Magic Jersey

Politics as Sport

My brain is always searching for answers to mystifying questions. Lately, I’ve been pondering a particularly omnipresent issue: When the President of the United States is certifiable deranged (he is actually killing civilians in a war he started, while claiming to be a divine healer), why is no one calling the psych ward?

Sports offered a plausible, albeit partial, answer.

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Americans are sports lunatics. The type of crazy that can watch a 3 hour college football game, and follow it up with a 6 hour podcast on what they just saw; a singularity of devotion that would not blink at trading their youngest child for a pair of decent season tickets.

Since the 2021 arrival of NIL (Name, Image and “Like, pay me” legislation), educational institutions are now allowed to compensate collegiate athletes for their attempts at glory … glory for which fans are more than willing to pay a premium. From institutional payouts, private endorsements and skyrocketing ticket prices, players can sprint to the bank before they even suit up for a game. Add to this what-could-go-wrong recipe something called a transfer portal—where, at the end of a disappointing season, athletes can shift allegiances to the highest million-dollar bidder—and you’ve cooked up the perfect, competitively-themed, exorbitantly priced, pass-it-around fruitcake (somehow, more desirable each time it changes hands).

It gets more looney.

Logic would suggest that a player who abandons one team for another—chasing more money, a better shot at winning, or hoping to leave behind a dishonorable reputation—might sustain a hint of derision or resentment from the fans who’ve fortuitously acquired him. But that’s not how it works. The moment he or she pulls on the team jersey, all is forgiven. The same fans who would have cursed their name weeks earlier, now celebrate his arrival like a long-lost son (the one they sold to purchase season tickets).

It’s all about the Magic Jersey—the enchanted fabric that absolves all prior sins. Yesterday’s traitor becomes today’s savior the moment they pull the jersey over their head. No questions asked; no character, moral high ground or loyalty required. Not only does this apply towards former transgressions or win/loss offenses, but absolution from future as well. Speeding tickets, excessive living, domestic violence? Who cares? In modern college sports, the essential ingredient is the laundry (and winning).

The magic jersey accomplishes one other critical transformation: players become one large amorphous glob of credible, high functioning, respected, can-I-have-your-autograph super beings (apparently, worthy of worship). Upon transfer, last year’s Junior College nobody instantaneously mutates into Fred the Lionhearted (if particularly proficient, fans will even purchase a piece of laundry with Fred’s number on it).

Limit the entire competition to one team, and offer a game once every 2-4 years, and in a flash … you have Donald Trump as President of the United States.

My brain began piecing together the sports/politics connection weeks ago. Unfortunately, it came to fruition with one of our president’s all too familiar rants: “We’re going to win so much, you’ll get tired of winning … we’re winning, winning, winning.”

“Why does he talk about winning so much?” I mused. Does he think leading a nation is some kind of competition? It’s like he’s not talking to the American people, he’s talking to his team.

BOOM. The analogy-game was on. And the more I pondered it, the more it brought clarity to the some of the chaos (which is why I’m scrawling about it now).

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article entitled, Regarding Reality. In it, I attempted to describe the state of our democracy (wondering, out loud, if we still had one). During the course of the discussion, I focused on two universal features of nations succumbing to authoritarianism: suboptimal and gullible thinking patterns. As I began contemplating the politics/sports relationship, it became clear (at least to me), that a nation crazed by sports, can, in similar fashion, be demented about politics—what I am now seeing as a subset of suboptimal/gullible thinking patterns.

So with that out of the way—whew, I’ve absolved myself from logic blunder!—let’s explore this idea: Politics as Sport.

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Cutting to the chase (the topic could be a book), I’m simply asking you to consider politics as a living, breathing, kind-of-stupid extension of American sports, where political engagement has shifted from a debate over policy and governance—how to best serve the people of a democracy—to a high-stakes competitive spectacle (where winning is everything). To keep things concise, we’ll focus on a few themes that seem to make analogous sense. The goal is simple: Let’s try and understand how a mentally unstable, former beauty pageant owner is destroying our democracy and creating global havoc, while Americans jeer and cheer … and eat popcorn. Here goes:

Tribalism and Team Loyalty

Why do Duke fans watch Carolina games? They are hoping, praying, pleading that Carolina will lose. Why? Because crazed sports fans take as much pleasure in winning—maybe less—as they do in watching rivals be humiliated. It’s part of the charm of American sports; tribalism requires joyful hatred.

Tribalism—that beautiful “Us vs Them” mentality—is deeply woven into the American sporting arena. You’ll not only see it between rivals, but between teams playing for a high stakes win … say, a National Championship. It’s why a Miami football fan will spend hours learning “what to hate” about an Indiana football team (a team Miami never plays). Once the title game is set, and the battle lines are drawn, Indiana becomes a deeply revolting, unpalatable, repulsive bunch of do-gooders who aren’t just lucky to be in a National Championship game; they’ll be lucky to survive the onslaught (until of course, Miami loses and the blame-shifting starts—”Those stupid refs stole the game from us!”).

As hilarious as this behavior is, it scarcely requires any mental gymnastics to suggest why the January 6 attack on our Capital occurred. Tribalism—inflamed by the current president—required it. “Stop the steal” became the rallying cry of a party infuriated by leftist, what-proved-to-be fictional cheating (in sports, as in American politics, cheating is very bad … and, most often, requires little evidence to support it’s claim).

To take the analogy a bit further, it’s quite easy to observe a broad spectrum of American voters who seem to view their political parties as sports franchises—supporting their team unconditionally, revering representative players, and viewing the opposing side as a hated, Duke-Carolina rival to be defeated by any means (heaven forbid, even cheating to win).

Tribal loyalty, the kind that also mutates a transfer into a superhero, seems to be just the kind of political magic jersey that led to Trump’s presidency. Using specific words or phrases that matched the team agenda—“Pro-life, pro-gun, traditional values, Christian, rule of law, America first, no more wars”—allowed a billionaire pervert (with a profoundly inadequate set of qualifications) to miraculously morph into a “brilliant statesman, strong leader, a great American, godly patriot … one of us!”

Let that analogy sink in. Once the Republican jersey was slipped on, Trump became everything he actually wasn’t (which regrettably, included a rational, sensible, knowledgeable person). It’s all about the laundry, baby!

Unconditional tribal loyalty—the kind that excuses bad behavior, blames others, ignores facts, demonizes the opposing team, justifies poor decisions, and pretty much legitimizes anything—also translates into a free pass for Trump on just about any dreadful behavior you can imagine: Death threats to opponents, vilifying anyone who crosses him (including “stupid” teammates), retaliatory investigations, mass firings, undermining elections, Russian collusion, media manipulation, sociopathic-narcissistic behaviors, the ignorance and bullying of a 5^th grader, killing innocent people … insanity.

With the team jersey secured, presidential conduct or expertise is no longer linked to real world expectations of ANY leader of ANYTHING. As long as you’re one of the team, “Go ahead, claim dictatorships are good for democracy, we’ll somehow figure out how to legitimize it.”

The remarkably obvious measure—removing the indisputable threat Trump poses to the welfare of Americans, and the general welfare of the world—unthinkable. Based on the etiquette of tribal loyalty, not going to happen. All the opposing team can seem to muster is jeering, hissing and booing.

Given the grave consequences, isn’t this crazy-braindead-stupid? Not for sports lunatics. Pass the popcorn and order another Coke.

Identity

As a college student at Clemson University, one of my work-study jobs was chauffeuring board members to football games. These were big-dollar donors. A police escort led us to and from games. It was a sweet gig. When the Tigers won, we rode back to the hotel in a van full of rowdy, glowing rich people (who stuck tips in my pocket). When the Tigers lost, the drive back was utter misery—complete silence, despair, no tips. These professing adults identified with their team to the point where losing seemed to shame them personally … their lives momentarily ruined over the course of 3 hours! Even for a 20-year-old, it was a shocking display of evolutionary digression—a symbiotic tethering between a score board and self-worth; a bond so strong, even the drive home in a Corvette couldn’t exorcise the demon of ignominy.

That was the 70’s. How much worse is sports-identity fusion today? Ask a politician (who finds the political version quite useful). A few sports-analogous patterns have emerged.

Speak rationally against the home-parties policy or behavior, and you don’t just have a different opinion, you’re instantaneously cast as a villain, attacking a voters dignity (my wife and I have family and friends who have matter-of-factly disowned us because we’ve said shameful things like, “Jesus said, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me,’” or “Isn’t threatening genocide a war crime?”). Conversations stop, phone calls go unreturned, Facebook pages are blocked. When self-worth is tied to a political party, divergent opinions, even reasonable ones, become character assassinations—an existential threat to worldviews, morality, the essence of who you are. Scary stuff.

Based on my political convictions, I’ve been kindly informed: “You’ve lost your faith.” “You don’t deserve America.” “You used to be a such a nice person.” “You’re a dumbass.” Pretty harsh responses for someone simply disagreeing with Team Trump.

Identity politics not only threatens the foundations of self-worth (requiring pushback) it feeds off a similar tribal hatred—rather than a fellow citizen with different perspectives, Republican or Democrats are seen as scum-of-the-earth combatants, enemies to be gloated over when victory—be it candidate, policy or gerrymandering—is won. Hearken to a Republican-oriented news outlet and you’ll hear Democrats referred to in complimentary words like, “Dem, Fem, Lib, Left-wing, Commie, Vermin, Jackass, Homo, Libtard.” Democratic-leaning media have their favorite Republican monikers as well, “MAGA, Capitalist, Bigot, Trumpster, Redneck, Birther, Fascist, Conspiritard, Re-thug-lican” It’s all part of not only identifying with your team, but putting the other team in their place (the place where disdain is considered a benevolent sentiment).

Here’s the crazy caveat. Tying your identity to a sports team is mostly a wasted Saturday and idle gambling on your weekend mood—it’s harmless theater. In democracy, it’s deadly poison (particularly when your Executive-in-Chief is inept and insane).

Zero-Sum Winning

My wife and I have a daughter who loves sports. So much so, she majored in Sport Management (Go Wolfpack!). Raised in a family that attempts to keep things in perspective (we’re not spending $100K on travel ball … only $10K), she recognized and came to cherish the idea of sports as a character-builder. She viewed her major as an opportunity to become a coach, influence lives, be a difference maker—until she began attending classes. By her junior year, the writing was on the moneyball-wall. In modern-day America, where her parents had philosophically failed her, sports were an academically-sanctioned, personalized investment opportunity … wholly dependent upon winning (“No won, no mon, no fun”). Strangely, she lost interest in coaching.

Intuitively, without much introspection, most Americans recognize this sporting trend: An obsessive/compulsive drive to win, dominate, humiliate and conquer the foe; to the eternal glory of a trophy on the mantle (eventually lost in the move to Ohio), and a shot at making the big bucks (while attiring fans in well-earned pomp and circumstance). Billions pour into local economies to accomplish this end.

Apparently, unable to avoid the value-transfer, American politics have come to resemble this zero-sum contest, in which the primary objective is no longer the pursuit of democratic ideals or the common good (building national character), but victory itself (whatever the team defines as good; often cash and power for leaders; appeasement and suppression for everybody else).

In this framework, one party’s loss is the other party’s right to force their liberal or conservative agenda on the masses: A party-aggrandizing, Nazi-like dominance where compromise or cooperation become synonymous with weakness; where winners may browbeat losers with their version of the truth (whether that’s forcing the use of pronouns, or institutionalizing the Ten Commandments); where victors come to believe they can finally relax (the game is over, and our country is temporarily safe from “those nasty morons”).

Rather than view governance as the messy business of serving the people and assuring constitutional freedoms, political actors (and their supporters) have been treating American politics as an arena for dominance—in which the opposing team must be defeated at ANY cost (even if it means choosing an unstable criminal as the best-shot at winning; and jumping on his vengeful, cruel, money-laundering, murdering, nutcase bandwagon if he will keep us in power).

Unsurprisingly, in this win-win-win world, policy debates, meaningful dialog, progress on issues of national importance, discerning what will best promote justice, liberty, or human flourishing? Gone. Along with the brain drain, ethics become secondary, victory justifies anything that maintains power, colossal hypocrisies are tolerated, truth is whatever works to keep vanquishing the enemy.

Sound exaggerated? For sports fanatics, it’s not.

The Final Score

The tragedy of the Politics as Sport paradigm shift (as posited here) is this: Democracy is not a winner-take-all sport, but a collective endeavor aimed at advancing the well-being of all. When governing is reduced to tribalism, identity and a zero-sum game, elections may produce winners and losers, but the 250-year-old democracy—the one that made racially diverse sports possible; the one that assured males and females equal opportunity; the one that made self-governing attainable—will eventually, unequivocally, unceremoniously die.

In that world, nobody wins.

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Your thoughts? Are you seeing what I’m seeing? Are there other areas where the sports analogy—media coverage, group think, etc.—rings true?

What common sense measures can Americans take to diminish our sports-crazed mentality towards governance?

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