PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, left, accompanied by LeBron James, right, takes the stage at a rally at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016.
By STEVE KRAUSE
After the Boston Red Sox broke the so-called “Curse of the Bambino,” Curt Schilling, fresh from his bloody-sock stigmata, was seen in Ohio stumping for George W. Bush.
That took some people back. It also jolted people a little (but only a little) when Theo Epstein, general manager at the time, chose not to go to the White House the following spring when Bush honored the Red Sox.
Seven years later, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas quietly chose to boycott the White House gathering hosted by President Barack Obama that honored the 2011 Stanley Cup champions. Thomas may have been naive in thinking his one-man political protest would escape the media’s notice, because obviously, it didn’t.
Of course, Thomas didn’t help himself very much with his rantings and ravings about how, thanks to the president, democracy and civil liberties were gone forever. And Schilling, in ensuing years, has not helped himself by some of the extremist (in the eyes of some people, myself included) rantings and tweets with his name on them.
What is it about athletes expressing their opinions that causes such a stir? Who cares? Or, more to the point, why should anyone care?
LeBron James got up on a platform with Hillary Clinton. That’s his right. Bill Belichick wrote a letter to Donald Trump, which he said the candidate could share, that extolled all of his virtues. Trump got up Tuesday in New Hampshire and said Tom Brady voted for him (which Brady’s wife promptly disputed).
In the case of James and Belichick, any suggestion by anyone that either has to explain himself is absurd. Would I have to explain myself if I stood outside the Lynn Tech annex Tuesday with a “Vote No on Question 2” sign? Would you?
Athletes are citizens, just like you and I. They’re allowed to have opinions, just like you and I. We are free to disagree with them if we choose, and we are free to support them too.
We are even free to vote for a candidate because LeBron James and Bill Belichick tell me to, although I cannot see why anyone would.
As a fan, the only thing about Belichick I care about is the game plan he’s drawn up for Sunday night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. My only concern with Brady is whether he’ll throw four touchdown passes and beat the Seahawks like a drum. If he did vote for Trump, I don’t care. If I must, I’ll deal with that on some other level, maybe. But it doesn’t change the fact that come Sunday I hope his mind’s on football and beating Seattle.
I rooted for the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Golden State Warriors last spring because I bought into the whole “Cleveland-is-a-cursed-city” dynamic, and wanted to see the folks who live in and around the “Mistake by the Lake” experience just a little of what we Bostonians have seen in the last 15 years. That makes LeBron James a basketball icon. It does not make him a political pundit anymore than Tim Thomas possessed a unique wisdom about the condition of the U.S. government back in 2011.
I used to be in awe, back in the 1980s, about what a great linebacker Lawrence Taylor was. Thanks in large part to him, the New York Giants — whom I normally detest — won two Super Bowls and they were almost palatable, because I liked the way Taylor played.
Then, of course, the other shoe dropped. Taylor had a drug problem. Taylor was illiterate. Taylor got into trouble for other reasons. He wasn’t exactly the model citizen.
But if Lawrence Taylor came out and endorsed Ronald Reagan, would that have made anyone vote for The Gipper? Did Curt Schilling change anyone’s minds about voting for Bush? Does someone in Alabama or Utah care what Bill Belichick thinks of Trump? Come to think of it, since everyone except people from around here hates Belichick and thinks he’s an arrogant SOB, that might not have turned into the big electoral bonanza The Donald anticipated.
Bottom line: Athletes have just as much of a right as you and I to express their political opinions without incurring the wrath of fanboys and girls, or without demands being put on them to explain themselves.
And, of course, we reserve the right to use our own common sense and take them, and their endorsements, with the proper grain of salt. Tom Brady is a great quarterback and LeBron James an extraordinary basketball player. But let’s end the sentence there.
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].