Yahoo! Sports and the NHL's Nashville Predators are not sticking to sports or political neutrality. The pro hockey team has publicly endorsed a Democrat candidate for mayor in Nashville, and that clapping sound you hear comes from Yahoo! Sports' Jay Busbee, who endorsed the team for doing so—while other media are criticizing the team's partisanship.
At a Predator's game, Nashville president and CEO Sean Henry appeared on a video endorsing acting mayor David Briley for an upcoming special election:
“I want to urge everyone to get out and vote. I also want to let Smashville know that we’re supporting Mayor David Briley, and we hope that you join us for that as well. But regardless of who you vote for, get out and vote. Make your voice heard.”
The Tennessee Star condemned this as a sleazy quid pro quo and wrote, “The precedent set here by a pro sports franchise endorsing a political candidate is incredibly troubling." Critics like NewsChannel 5's Steve Layman (in photo above) told the team to stick to sports.
As for the sleaze, the Predators are negotiating a new lease with the city and employing two lobbying firms that contributed to Briley's campaign. Busbee, who writes the column "Puck Daddy" for Yahoo! Sports, cavalierly dismisses the stick to sports line as "dysfunctional." He dismisses the team's campaign support of the Democrat with the comment: "Make of those facts what you will”:
"There’s this theory that sports is supposed to be some apolitical wonderland, a place where Republicans and Democrats alike can come together for a common rooting interest, leaving thorny questions of politics at the entry gates. It’s all nonsense, of course; sports and politics are inextricably intertwined, from the national anthem to NFL players kneeling, from tearful military reunions to … well, to endorsing political candidates."
Better said, sports reporting and partisan politics are all too often intertwined, thanks to writers like Busbee. He is also an anti-Trumper who credits the Predators with breaking new ground:
"But even in an era where politics seeps into every conversation we have now — seriously, just say the word 'Trump' in a public place and see what happens — the Nashville Predators have appeared to break new ground with a definitive, team-supported endorsement of a political candidate."
Busby writes that everyone is partisan and he doesn't make any bones about his predisposition. He says the team "has every right to do this. If the Predators have decided that they’re interested in influencing the outcome of the mayoral race / courting supporters of Briley / currying favor with the Briley administration, that’s certainly their choice. They’re apparently willing to call the bluff of fans opposed to this kind of politicization, and they’ll surely hear about it. If we’ve learned nothing else these last two years or so, it’s this: there’s no escaping politics anywhere in your life, and there are plenty of people who’ll yell no matter what you do."
There are few who will yell when there is no partisanship. Busbee and others insist on not just politicizing sports, but doing it with brazen, blatant partisanship that alienates.
