The Politics of Sports

As I watch the closing minutes of the Pacers-OKC game, I am reminded how many commentators on the Yugoslav civil wars credit their origin to Futball, to soccer. For me, two red states battling against one another, my only wish was that both could lose. That's the delusion. One will win. And it will be a red state victory. Trump supporters will cheer. Will Harris supporters?

I remember traveling from Hungary to Bosnia in 2013. We had to pass through the Republic of Srbska, one of the three ethnically defined entities established by the Dayton Accords. Bosnia was winning, spectacularly. We were listening on the radio. And, yet, as we passed through nationalist Serbian Bosnia, not a tavern light was lit. Not a home was lit. It was a dead man's land.

And then I remember growing up in Wisconsin in the 1970s. The sports rivalries were fierce. But they were not ideological. I think everyone supported working families. I think everyone supported women. That was my impression. Sports is now in the US where it was in Bosnia in 1992. The athletes have disappeared. The sport has vanished. Is it possible that an errant kick, or goal, or touchdown could trigger an uprising?

I am beginning to hope so.