FanPost

OT - Racism

Maybe this would be better as a fanshot, but I'm not sure how long it will end up being.

I found it interesting as I scanned through my newsfeed that there was both bad news and good news on the racism/tolerance front:

After Joel Ward scored the winning goal for the Capitals, racist tweets started showing up. There's no need to reproduce them here - I'm sure you can find them if you really need to read the verbal train-wrecks.

Maybe my view of "sport" is fairy-tale and sugar-coated. To me the word "sport" should reflect fun and fair-play. The strongest imprints on my mind about the word "sport" were formed as a child with phrases like "being a good sport" and "a sporting chance". Indeed, when I was young, we participated in sports purely as recreational activities and there wasn't the same obsession with winning I have seen in my children's generation.

Sure, professional sport is about winning, because winning teams generally make more money and these franchises are more valuable. I can dislike the Boston Red Sox uniform and kid my student that wears a Red Sox hat to class every day that he's hurting his grade, but to hate the "Greek God of Walks" (who isn't Greek) because he wears that uniform, is dumb. I don't like seeing Yankees clothing around the university, but people are entitled to their opinion. I don't think ARod is a jerk because of his uniform, but because I despise it when people with enormous talent, like him, still feel the need to cheat to gain an advantage.

(BTW, the two Hall of Famers I would most like to talk with are Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson, two great talents that kept their dignity despite facing racist attacks for much of their careers.)

Then there is the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, whose atrocious attack was motivated by a perverse, racist view of Norwegian society. At one point, he lashed out at the song "Children of the Rainbow", which espouses views diametrically opposed to his. I loved the Norwegian response: an estimated 40,000 people filled the square near the court house in rainy weather to sing the song.

Editor's Note: This is a FanPost written by a reader and member of Bluebird Banter. It was not commissioned by the editors and is not necessarily reflective of the opinions of Bluebird Banter or SB Nation.