Sports in war

Combat sport

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And often, as much as we wish they hadn't, the two realms -- the symbolic combat on the field, on the court, on the ice, and the very real combat of war -- intersect in ways of great significance. Nobody but Ali -- the greatest fighter in the world -- could have made a more powerful antiwar statement.

And perhaps nobody but Ali -- the greatest boxer in the world, a man who made his living with his fists -- could have made a more powerful antiwar statement. And it was more than words: Ali, a conscientious objector, talked the talk and walked the walk, and paid dearly for his principled stance. Iowa's Golden Boy pays the ultimate price It's hard to imagine these days how high Kinnick, the great Iowa football player who won the Heisman trophy, stood as a true hero even before he went to war.

Many thought that as much as he excelled on the gridiron, his real destiny would transcend the playing fields and that one day he would be president. When Kinnick accepted his Heisman, he gave a brief but eloquent speech.

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That kind of thoughtful statement from the country's biggest sports star at the time was part of what transformed Kinnick into national hero. When baseball play resumed games were packed full of patriotism and emotion. The first game in New York, the signal of a return to normality, would be an emotion-packed Mets game that left players, fans at Shea and TV viewers around the country in tears. The Civil War and the National Pastime Many baseball historians agree that the War Between the States, which divided the country between North and South, united the troops in one great pastime: Legend has it that there were even North vs.

South games, when, briefly, both sides agreed to put down arms and take up balls and bats. In short, the Civil War bought people together, and when they weren't killing each other, they were often playing the new sport of baseball.

The Cold War The U. After the Soviets successfully tested their first nuclear weapon in , the conventional wisdom was that if U. So the Cold War played out in other arenas -- political, diplomatic, cultural -- but most notably, in sports. Stadiums would fill, even stateside, for track meets between the two countries. Gold medal tallies told of much more than athletic superiority. And just when American power seemed to be waning, the Miracle on Ice foreshadowed a U.

Cold War "victory" that would be even more surprising than what happened on the rink at Lake Placid. Jackie Robinson fights the enemy at home and abroad Branch Rickey knew what he was getting when he signed Jackie Robinson - a man who had faced a court martial while serving in the army in Fort Hood, Texas in He was found not guilty, thanks, in part, to the strong support he received from a former commanding officer. Robinson later called it a pivotal episode in his life, and summed up the feelings of many black servicemen who served in World War II: He trained as a fighter pilot, advancing up the ranks to become an instructor.

He never saw combat -- the war ended just as he was on his way to combat duty in the Pacific. He'd lost three years in his prime to the war, but felt no bitterness. I was proud of those years.

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I was happy that it happened that way. I went to a military parade and a baseball football, hockey game broke out. Not so very long ago, when I watched such games I would be transported to my childhood and my fantasies of becoming the next Nolan Ryan or Carl Yastrzemski.

As a start, the previous night featured a televised home-run derby.

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Before it even began, about 50 airmen paraded out in camouflage uniforms, setting the stage for everything that would follow. Highlighting the other pre-game ceremonies the next night was a celebration of Medal of Honor recipients. I have deep respect for such heroes, but what were they doing on a baseball diamond?

William J. Astore

The ceremony would have been appropriate on, say, Veterans Day in November. And the All-Star game is hardly alone in its militarized celebrations and hoopla.

Take the U. Open tennis tournament in New York City, which I happened to watch.

With John McEnroe in retirement, tennis is, generally speaking, a quieter sport. Admittedly, it was a dramatic way to begin anything, but why exactly an international tennis match that happened to feature finalists from Spain and South Africa? That will be enormously difficult because the combination of the corporation, the military, and the complete investiture of the flag with mass spectator sports has set up a pre-fascistic atmosphere in America already. More than 14 years later, that combination — corporations, the military, and mass spectator sports, all wrapped in a gigantic version of the stars and stripes — has increasingly come to define what it means to be an American.

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And much credit goes to professional sports for that transformation. In conjunction with the military and marketed by corporations, they have reshaped the very practice of patriotism in America. A set of corporate-military partnerships or, if you prefer, some version of President Dwight D. In other words, sports teams now have a powerful set of incentives to appear patriotic, which increasingly means slavishly pro-military.

How Pro Sports Became Part of the U.S. Military’s War Machine - In These Times

Indeed, the widespread if shallow support of the military by so many athletes may, in some cases, be driven by a kind of guilt. Driven by corporate agendas and featuring exaggerated military displays, mass-spectator sports are helping to shape what Americans perceive and believe. In stadiums across the nation, on screens held in our hands or dominating our living rooms, we witness fine young men and women in uniform unfurling massive flags on football fields and baseball diamonds, even on tennis courts, as combat jets scream overhead.

Questioning the same — indeed, questioning authority in any form — is, of course, bad and wrong and unpatriotic. Sports should be about having fun; about joy, passion, and sharing; about the thrill of competition, the splendor of the human condition; and so much more. I still remember the few home runs I hit in softball.

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