Sports and Politics: How They Relate

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Sports and Politics: How they Relate? From the outcome of a vote in congress to a newly suggested policy sports have affected politics for plenty of years dating back to the late 19th Century. Whether it's putting an end to segregation through baseball, the making of a new ally because of soccer, or the boosting of an economy because of a single sporting event there are countless occurrences in which a sport helped better a country. Where there are miracles there are also tragedies, sports can also affect politics negatively, with the tragedies far outweighing the miracles. There have been boycotts from a government, political embarrassment, and the worst, mass killings, all of which happening as a result of sports. The same goes for politics and government affecting a sporting event, there have been games set at a specific location purely to boost the economy of that city, certain teams being chosen to win a sporting event based on them having a disaster occurring recently, or even a country refusing to allow their athletes to compete to solidify their history and what they hope to achieve. As sports affects politics negatively politics can also affect sports negatively, there have been counties killing others during sporting events, countries being dismantled because of sporting events, and even countries refusing to have others participate in a sporting event because of their religion, ethnicity, etc. When asked to describe both sports and politics in one phrase reporter George Vecsey (2012) said “Obama plays it safe for a field goal. Clinton needs to hit a grand slam. McCain is preparing for a marathon. Candidates cannot afford any blunders, like Billy Conn trying to knock out Joe Louis in 1941. Apparently, we sports buffs can... ... middle of paper ... ...e Russians legislation of anti-gay laws makes for a tough situation for the U.S. government because they have to decide between participating and being seen as awful people for holding out the gay/lesbian athletes or they don’t participate and be viewed as weak by the powerhouses of the Olympics. Hitler’s' era showed that no matter how powerful a government may be if humiliated by a single man the government will be knocked down a peg. The Olympics have brought about much bloodshed, boycotting, and protest too dating back as early the 1930s and lasting up from the 1980 to even present day. These are a few of the many different cases in which politics have affected sports and how sports have affected politics. The prior examples just set into stone that sports have any effect on politics whether it be positive or negative there is still a correlation between the two.

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