Proposal Over the past couple months, the phrase “stick to sports” has been thrown around a lot when an athlete expresses his or her opinion on a political or social issues. For my research essay, I will be looking further into and seeing if athletes should just “shut up and dribble.” Like a reporter told LeBron James I will explore the complicated relationship between sports and politics to see if athletes should keep their opinions to themselves. Americas Relationship with sports has always been complicated. On game day, these athlete’s names are worn by fans, their on court/field play is watched by millions, there brand and face is sold in stores and they are idolized by children. But when it comes to Politics or anything involving personal opinions Kareem Abdul Jabbar states that “athletes are relegated to a locker room ghetto and told to keep their politics as private as a jock strap.” Why is this the case though? Dismissing one’s opinions based on their profession doesn’t sound logical. Also, just because an athlete is making millions of dollars for “dribbling a basketball” doesn’t mean that they have to give up their basic rights as American Citizens. Athletes have been stereotyped as dumb jocks who know nothing for many years, but that isn’t really the case. After explaining Americas relationship …show more content…
With their high-status platform, it gives people without a voice a chance to be heard. Athletes are also citizens in the end of the day so their opinions on social issues can have an influence and bring change. If the larger society is traumatized by social issues, athletes can provide an informed and healing voice. In my essay, I will explore the relationship between the sports athlete and politics. There isn’t a lot of scholarly articles other than people who have spoken out and fought in the past such as Jackie Robeson and Muhammed Ali. So, a lot of my research is coming from news