In a video that could easily pass for a Hillary Clinton campaign commercial or a message by MoveOn.org, USA Today's Trysta Krick urges athletes to speak up for left-wing causes, and she blasts President Trump. It's apparent that USA Today is progressing nicely in its transition from sports section to "political action committee."
Krick's short video opened with her saying if you commented on a news event to a co-worker in your office, and the other person said, "Hey, you're an accountant, stick to balance sheets," you wouldn't like it.
But that's what life would be like if everyone, not just athletes, were expected to just stick to their job, Krick says. Athletes "LeBron James, Chris Long, Martellus Bennett and others recently spoke out about the events in Charlottesville and were met with, 'hey, bro, stick to sports. Stay in your lane.' The time is now to put those phrases to rest." Additionally, she says:
The day that athletes stick to sports is no longer acceptable in a political climate where we have a president who refuses to blame solely white supremacy and neo-Nazi's for the violence in Charlottesville. There is too big of a void for people with a platform, an audience, an influence, to simply stay in their lane or sit on the sidelines. This isn't the time for us to expect athletes to lack opinions or toe the party line or be politically correct.
Krick refused to lay any blame at the feet of the violent mob of leftists who contributed to the mayhem in Charlottesville. Furthermore, I wasn't aware that athletes suffer from a lack of speaking platforms. They are constantly surrounded by hordes of reporters sticking microphones in their faces, demanding comments on all kinds of topics.
And speaking of the "party line," Trysta, with the majority of cookie-cutter, left-stream media, the party line IS the Democrat Party line. Krick seriously has a lack of understanding about the meaning of political correctness, too. Her whole video is about PC, but she infers that it isn't about spewing left-wing views. When athletes speak in support of life, bathroom bills or marriage as the union of one man and one woman, they are shot down by PC media sheep, USA Today among them.
Krick referred to her reverence for Muhammed Ali, and she remarks: "We call him a civil rights hero. So why not allow athletes to do the same thing, but in new ways?"
Well, Trysta, none of today's athletes have been stripped of a world championship for refusing to serve in the U.S. military. For the most part, outspoken athletes assume that Freddy Gray, Michael Brown and others were innocent victims and police brutality is the order of the day. It irritates more sports fans than you know to see liberal media lend platforms almost exclusively to only those athletes speaking left-wing politics, like these:
LeBron James: Hate has always existed in America. Yes we know that but Donald Trump just made it fashionable again! Statues have nothing to do with us now!
Chris Long: Wow ... to think that failure to condemn white supremacy is a form of political self preservation in America right now ... tough day.
Martellus Bennett: You can stand on the platform provided to promote products but not promote change to the products of your environments.
Krick's video displayed a message by Long, who "said it perfectly":
If you listen to people who tell you to 'stick to sports,' I would ask them 'do you stick to whatever your occupation is?' People always want to hear from athletes when they agree with them. When we voice a (dissenting} opinion, they have an issue with it.
The trouble is sports fans are only hearing one side of the issues from athletes in forums dominated by left-stream gatekeepers. It's a left-wing echo chamber. Where's the voice of the conservative athlete? It's shut out by USA Today, NYT and their fellow travelers.
"We've always thought of our athletes as role models," Krick says. "And now is the time, given that our commander in chief certainly isn't one. To be the voice for change and use their voice for influence for good. Not just sell sneakers and Gatorade." (Moveon.org approves this message!)
People who read the left-stream sports blogs, who listen to videos like this one are left to conclude that a "voice for good" can only come from the voices of leftists.
