I don't think any of us envisioned discussing horrific mass shootings when we decided sports radio was the avenue we'd take for our careers, yet here we are. Just days removed from yet another senseless tragedy in which we lost 19 children and 2 adult teachers. Uvalde, Texas was the latest site of what has become the worst-growing trend and the biggest black eye on our country, mass shootings.
This is such a large-scale issue, you'd only have to look back a week to find the previous mass shooting, that one coming via the Buffalo supermarket tragedy. These stories are dark, depressing, and happen far too often. These stories often get politicized by those who sit on the far left and far right. Too rarely does anything actually change. Even the conversation surrounding these shootings tend to parrot the conversations we heard the last time, the time before that, and the time before that.
And here we sit in the toy aisle of radio/media, the sports section, and we're in a position where having these discussions has become completely unavoidable. Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr took to the podium hours after we learned of the Uvalde tragedy and spoke to the nation, his frustrations on full display. Kerr had a father who was victim of gun violence when Kerr was just 18 years old.
"When are we going to do something?" Kerr added as he pounded on the table in front of him. "I'm tired, I'm so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there."
Kerr continued, "we are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want. They won't vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power. It's pathetic. I've had enough."
Kerr's comments were then discussed on the post-game show on TNT between Shaq, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith, and then on countless sports talk shows over the next 24 hours. This is where the intersection of sports and tragedy are unavoidable. Sports figures and media-folk alike are impacted by these national tragedies just as everyone else is impacted. During weeks like this, the old "stick to sports" model simply doesn't apply. The sports world has always had a hand in the response to national tragedy. Whether that's finding out about John Lennon's passing via Monday Night Football, or the way we rallied around sports post 9/11. You can even look back at 2020 and how integral sports was in keeping us sane during the pandemic, or just look at the response to the George Floyd murder inside the NBA Bubble. We want these worlds to be separated, but they're not.
Gabe Kapler, the San Francisco Giants manager, recently stated that he will not come out of the clubhouse for the National Anthem because of his displeasure with where we are as a country.
"Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I'm participating in a self-congratulatory glorification of the only country where these mass shootings take place," Kapler wrote on his blog.
This has of course reactivated many of the same arguments caused by the Colin Kaepernick protests of 2016, but the point is the same; when the sports figures we cover take stands on public issues, should we not address them and open a dialogue around those issues? Of course, the answer is yes. Gone are the days of burying our heads in a box score and pretending like none of this exists. The discussion surrounding gun violence has become unavoidable. In fact, I don't think it should be avoided.
There is so much political narrowmindedness out there, one of the only places where Democrats and Republican adults meet is inside the sports sphere. So often we get locked into whichever cable news channel coincides with our beliefs that we've lost the ability to have true, open, and honest dialogue. Between that and the healing that can be done from hearing those in your community dealing with the same concerns you have can truly be a powerful tool.
I spoke to Tom Krasniqi (Host of the Ronnie & T-Kras show on 95.3 WDAE in Tampa) and asked him why he thought this was an important conversation for us to have, specifically on this format: "It's important to bring up hot-button issues like the Texas mass school shooting. Why? Because a good portion of our listeners are not only sports fans, they're also parents. Some are teachers. They're driving their kids to school each day listening to our show. I realize sports is a diversion from the everyday craziness of this world. But I believe it's our responsibility as broadcasters to best serve our community and have these conversations on how we can improve our society by confronting these huge issues. And mass shootings at schools affect everyone."
When I took to the airwaves the day after the shooting in Texas, I spent the first segment of my show ranting on all of things that disgust me about the latest string of mass shootings in this country. I used Steve Kerr's comments as a way of making it seem as though my opening topic had anything to do with sports, but it didn't. I used the platform I have as a sense of healing, for myself. Like many of you, I felt the pain from many miles away, thinking about what that town and those families are going through. Its unspeakable. As a parent, it enrages me to think that I have to worry about sending my two-year-old son to elementary school one day. That terrifies me to my core. So selfishly, I used my air time to share these thoughts. Talk radio has long been part of the healing process and will continue to be, both for hosts and listeners alike.
No comments:
Post a Comment