The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
8 — Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Charlie Pappalardo: Sports and politics are inseparable, 
especially right now

TW: 
Gun 
violence
In professional 
wrestling, there’s 
a principle known 
as kayfabe that 
governs 
the 
act 
playing 
out 
onstage. Kayfabe 
is 
a 
relatively 
simple distortion 
of reality that boils down to three 
essential points: 
One: Professional wrestling is fake. 
Two: Everyone watching knows that 
professional wrestling is fake. And 
three: Nonetheless, the audience 
enjoys it more if everyone pretends 
it’s real. So time and time again, that’s 
exactly what happens. People flock to 
stadiums to watch a version of reality 
that they know is inherently falsified, 
because it offers something to revel 
in. 
Professional 
team 
sports 
are 
drastically different from professional 
wrestling. But at the same time, all 
sports are laden with a different kind 
of distortion of reality — the erasure 
of societal divisions. Yet sometimes 
the cost of this distorted reality is too 
steep, and now is one of those times.
It’s easy to ignore the ugliness of 
politics — guns being prioritized over 
public safety, women’s and voting 
rights being destroyed, and Black 
people being killed by police officers 
— when sports gloss over these topics. 
Because for three hours a night, 
sporting events craft an alternative 
world where only one thing matters 
— what team you root for. This is 
part of the reason that sports are 
so enthralling. They suspend all 
distinction, and replace it with 
collective effervescence that can 
bind millions of people around the 
world together as long as they’re 
wearing the right colors. And within 
this version of reality, the outside 
world and all the disagreement and 
dissimilarity in it can be forgotten, 
because in the arena, the only thing 
that matters is who wins. 
And the University of Michigan 
is a school that knows this best. In 
The Big House, in Crisler and in Yost, 
thousands of fans are bound together 
by an intense feeling of connection. 
I think back to when the football 
team beat Ohio State and I rushed 
the field with thousands as the snow 
fell, feeling pure ecstasy. Looking 
back on that day feels almost like a 
dream. Nothing else mattered except 
enjoying that moment.

But that’s not reality, and everyone 
in attendance knew it. They knew 
that the outside world could not be 
forgotten and that other issues are 
inherently more pressing than the 
game. But they did it anyway — but 
I did it anyway — because they all 
realized that they’d have a better 
time if they pretended like their 
unity bound by team allegiance was 
absolute and genuine.
And sometimes, this beautiful 
distortion needs to be shattered. 
Sometimes, kayfabe must be dropped. 
This week, when a gunman 
walked into an elementary school 
with an AR-15 and murdered children 
— again — kayfabe had to be dropped.
The fallout started like it always 
does. There was the wave of 
condolences, moments of silence, 
tweets, statements of disgust and even 
outrage — but nothing inflammatory. 
Then, it went a step further. 
It started with Steve Kerr, the head 
coach of the Golden State Warriors 
and a man who knows what it’s like to 
lose a loved one through gun violence. 
In a press conference prior to Game 
4 of the NBA Western Conference 
finals he said: 
“Any basketball questions don’t 
matter. When are we going to do 
something? I am tired. I am so 
tired of getting up here and offering 
condolences to the devastated families 
out there. I’m tired of the moments of 
silence. Enough. … So I ask you, Mitch 
McConnell and all of you senators 
who refuse to do anything about the 
violence and the school shootings and 
the supermarket shootings — I ask you, 
are you going to put your own desire for 
power ahead of the lives of our children 
and our elderly and our church-goers? 
Because that’s what it looks like. That’s 
what we do every week. I’m fed up. I’ve 
had enough. We can’t get numb to this. 
We can’t sit here and just read about it 
and say let’s have a moment of silence.”
In doing so, Kerr broke an 
unwritten rule. 
He acknowledged that basketball 
isn’t more important than reality 
and he replaced the artificial unity 
of sports with politics, inviting the 
vitriol that follows. And once Kerr 
brought the conversation to the world 
of sports, others followed.
Prior to their game against the 
Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat 
too took a political stance, urging 
everyone in attendance to call local 
representatives and push them to 
change gun laws. On Thursday 
night, the New York Yankees and 

the Tampa Bay Rays united to take 
a stand, putting aside their contest 
and prioritizing a more important 
message. Using their social media to 
broadcast statistics on gun violence 
instead of plugging scores and 
highlights. 
Some people were horrified by 
these politically charged stances. 
Because to some, the infusion of 
politics into an arena designed to 
be devoid of division is the ultimate 
sin. Among those disgusted was 
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who 
referred to the actions of the Heat as, 
“politicizing a horrific tragedy.” 
Senator Rubio, what on earth is 
a horrific tragedy if not inherently 
political?
Politicians make a core promise 
when running for office to keep the 
Americans they serve safe. And time 
and time again, they have failed. An 
elementary school in Sandy Hook, a 
country music festival in Las Vegas, 
a nightclub in Orlando, a church in 
Sutherland Springs, a high school in 
Parkland, a grocery store in Buffalo 
and now, another elementary school, 
this time in Uvalde. 
And yet nothing has fucking 
changed.
There’s been no reform — and 
there’s no reason to believe that this 
was the last time. Nothing has been 
done by those with the power to make 
change. And because of it, people 
continue to die. 
The public is disgusted — not just 
with the horror of mass murder — but 
with the refusal of politicians to do 
anything to stop it. And disgust isn’t 
something that can be forgotten, not 
even for just a few hours. 
This is what forces the realms 
of sports and politics to become 
intertwined. 
Disgust 
cannot be forgotten. You 
can’t walk into Crisler, 
or the Big House, or any 
other stadium for that 
matter 
and 
suddenly 
forget 
that 
children 
were murdered and our 
politicians haven’t — and 
likely won’t ever — do a 
damn thing to prevent it 
from happening again. 
And so at a certain point, 
not acknowledging the 
disgust that the public 
feels is just as political as 
speaking out. 
By saying nothing, you 
are saying that nothing is 
pressing enough to force 
KATE HUA/Daily

protocol to be broken. That nothing 
really needs to be done. It’d be the 
same as the band continuing to play 
as the Titanic sinks — a charade of 
normality.
But things are far from normal 
in our country. It’s not normal that 
our nation has seen more mass 
shootings than days this year. It is not 
normal that an 18-year-old can buy 
thousands of rounds of ammunition 
and multiple assault rifles. And it 
is absolutely not normal that our 
politicians refuse to take action 
because of an ambiguously written 
phrase in a 240-year-old document 
and a $250 million lobby.
Our politicians are failing us. It’s 
apparent to everyone in our nation, 
and because of that, politics needs to 
bleed into sporting events. Because 
sports cannot serve as a suspension of 
reality when reality needs to change 
— and right now, it desperately does. 
And as college athletes — many 
of whom are still teenagers — take 
advantage of their platforms and 
speak out, others should follow suit. 
In the past, many of the members 
of the Wolverine men’s and women’s 
basketball teams took to the court 
wearing warm up shirts that read 
messages like “say their names”, 
“stand 
together” 
and 
“unity.” 
Michigan athletes’ decision to speak 
up is important. 
Because athletes, coaches and 
teams have an incredible platform, by 
making political statements they have 
the power to make change. Sports 
attract eyes, garner media attention 
and become topics of conversation. 
They 
dominate 
our 
landscape, 
something every Michigan student 
knows, so when politics appear in 
sports, there’s nowhere for us to avert 

our eyes. 
That’s a good thing.
When Tommie Smith and John 
Carlos raised their fists at the 1968 
Olympics, it was because reality 
needed — and still needs — to 
change in America. When Colin 
Kaepernick took a knee during the 
national anthem, it was because 
reality needed — and still needs — to 
change in America. And when the 
NBA canceled games after the death 
of Jacob Blake, it was because reality 
needed — and still needs — to change 
in America. 
This time it’s no different. 
Generally, sports like to stay 
apolitical and erase division. But 
sometimes, the reality of the failures 
of our nation must be acknowledged 
in the pastimes we use to distort it. 
If black men aren’t safe from the 
police when they get pulled over and 
if children aren’t safe from gunmen in 
school, it is ridiculous and childish to 
ask that sports be devoid of the vitriol 
that comes with politics. 
By speaking out, Steve Kerr, the 
Rays, the Yankees and the Heat aren’t 
just being political, they’re being 
pragmatic. And every other person 
and entity in the realm of sports 
has a duty to follow suit, Michigan 
included. The athletic department 
can’t sit idly by, it needs to be 
outspoken. Coaches need to speak 
out, activism must be encouraged and 
individuals must make their opinions 
known.
Because sometimes kayfabe must 
be broken. And I happen to think that 
following the preventable murder of 
children — that our leaders are too 
cowardly to prevent with necessary 
stricter gun laws — it is a damn good 
time for that to happen. 

CHARLIE 
PAPPALARDO

