You will never catch me telling an athlete to shut up and dribble/pitch/throw the ball/whatever. I am not someone that thinks there is absolutely no place for social or political discussions on sports radio. I don't think there is value in going to that well all the time, but there are times when it is warranted.

I would always rather hear a host offer an opinion I don't agree with than be afraid to talk about something like the Bucks refusing to take the court during the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Disagreement is part of what we do. Any host worth his or her paycheck should be able to handle a few arguments on the phone or text lines.

Now, there are two things I tell every host to remember if they want to wade into these waters. First, be critical but fair. That is no different than laying into the home team on a losing streak. Be fair and have a point in your criticism. Point out things that were said or did happen that you disagree with. Don't fire shots just to fire shots.

Second, and this one is so much more important, make sure your audience has a sports-related reason to care. This is one I found myself thinking about a lot this week as I saw multiple shows on Monday tweet out rundowns that included Lia Thomas.

She is the transgendered swimmer at Penn that just won her third Ivy League title in the women's 100-yard freestyle. I saw multiple shows in markets of varying sizes that wanted to discuss if this was fair.

Like, come on. We're stretching, right? Your audience doesn't give a shit who wins any swimming competition their kid isn't in. You don't care who wins any swimming competition your kid isn't in. So why is this a topic worth bringing to the air unless your only goal is to make some sort of sweeping statement about transgendered women?

There is a big difference between the NFL MVP sounding off on Joe Biden or the NBA Commissioner questioning the logic behind New York's Covid protocols and Ivy League swimming. There are sports connections your audience has to those other stories. Lia Thomas, and frankly swimming, are only in the news right now to serve the commenters' varying political agendas.

I can't think of a valid reason this woman is worth talking about on sports radio. That has zero to do with my stance on transgender rights and everything to do with my stance on swimming. It is possible to come down strongly on one side or the other of this issue and also recognize that it has no value for your audience.

Unless you are giving out the dullest, most obvious take of all time, there will always be part of your audience disagreeing with what you have to say. They stay with you though because they like you and have a frame of reference for what you are talking about.

Don't be afraid of people disagreeing with you. We're in the opinion business. People will disagree with you a lot!

What a host needs to be afraid of is alienating an audience. Let's move the transgender issue to the side for a second. Just on sports alone, can you think of anything more alienating than Ivy League swimming talk?

You aren't curing societal ills bringing up this topic on air. Your voice isn't the one America needs to make sense of this debate. Your audience is coming to you to talk and hear about the teams, players, and games they know. The second the words "Ivy League swimming" enter the equation, they have checked out entirely.

We aren't Fox News or MSNBC. We are sports radio. The culture wars, largely, are someone else's battle. If we are going to tackle an issue, it better have a tie to football or basketball. In some markets baseball and hockey are fine too, but the idea is pretty simple. Go where the people are, and if you are going to go down a worm hole that is atypical for you and your listeners, they better have an obvious, sports-related reason to follow you.