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Jan 23 / 5:05pm

Tim Thomas is a Jerk

Yeesh. My headline expresses my thoughts but so does this parenthetical remark by the writer:

(Is it any wonder that the country is so politically fractured when a bunch of guys can't agree to just get together and talk sports?)

Filed under  //  Obama   Politics   Sports  

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Apr 18 / 12:58am

Of Sports, Heroes, and the Decline of America

My good friend and consummate writing buddy Tony Seton sent me a column from the LA Times Sports section this weekend that attempted to tie together a number of depressing news stories from the world of sports in California. Here is my response to the column by Tim Rutten, which can be read here.

For me, it is certainly true that our tendency as a society to idealize both sports and athletes is a central key to understanding these kinds of events. It seems to me symptomatic of a larger problem in society, namely the lack of really legitimate heroes as leaders of our nation and our national interests. Political extremism causes the essentially nobly practical idea of compromise to become a patchwork of trade-offs wherein there is no compromise on a single issue, only between one issue and another. Such an atmosphere demands a hero who can overcome that tendency by appealing successfully to the broad electorate for support of reason and genuine compromise. Alas, no such leader has emerged despite the tragically false hope proffered by President Obama when he was Candidate Obama.

There is no genuine leader anywhere on the horizon. We are reduced, as a people, to choosing, not public policy positions with consistency of thought but rather individually singled-out positions on specific issues weighed dispiritedly against unacceptable stands on other, mostly unrelated issues.

The System -- which is ultimately us -- is fundamentally broken. No amount of tinkering will solve its woes. Absent a real hero of the people, the American experiment with democracy seems doomed to spin aimlessly down a drain while those entrusted with its maintenance bicker on the sidelines about whose petty interests are more important. We have attended the beginning of the Decline and Fall of America. If only someone were taking notes.

Filed under  //  Baseball   Politics   Sports Heroes  

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