Cardinals sign Dexter Fowler

[stlouie_lipp]

[Socnorb11]

The argument some of the "stick to sports!" people are making (and not one I agree with) is that celebrities, athletes, entertainers, etc. don't live or converse among "real" people, so they are out of touch and their opinion means less. The other argument seems to be that an athlete being outspoken about an issue will bait the media into covering that rather than sports. This is a little more defensible, but still misguided in my opinion.

Of course, most people who say "stick to sports" usually do so to athletes they disagree with. The ones they agree with they tend to applaud for speaking out.

ie: the cult following of Tim Tebow. Dude can talk politics and religion all he wants because he's not one of the "out of touch" athletes.

LOL.......... what?

[Popeye_Card]

The argument some of the "stick to sports!" people are making (and not one I agree with) is that celebrities, athletes, entertainers, etc. don't live or converse among "real" people, so they are out of touch and their opinion means less. The other argument seems to be that an athlete being outspoken about an issue will bait the media into covering that rather than sports. This is a little more defensible, but still misguided in my opinion.

Of course, most people who say "stick to sports" usually do so to athletes they disagree with. The ones they agree with they tend to applaud for speaking out.

ie: the cult following of Tim Tebow. Dude can talk politics and religion all he wants because he's not one of the "out of touch" athletes.

LOL.......... what?

Not to paint with too large of brush, but I'm guessing those who think Fowler and Kaepernick should shut up and play think that Tebow and Curt Schilling are fantastic for speaking up for their beliefs. And vice versa.

[Go_Crazy_Folks]

The argument some of the "stick to sports!" people are making (and not one I agree with) is that celebrities, athletes, entertainers, etc. don't live or converse among "real" people, so they are out of touch and their opinion means less. The other argument seems to be that an athlete being outspoken about an issue will bait the media into covering that rather than sports. This is a little more defensible, but still misguided in my opinion.

Of course, most people who say "stick to sports" usually do so to athletes they disagree with. The ones they agree with they tend to applaud for speaking out.

ie: the cult following of Tim Tebow. Dude can talk politics and religion all he wants because he's not one of the "out of touch" athletes.

LOL.......... what?

Not to paint with too large of brush, but I'm guessing those who think Fowler and Kaepernick should shut up and play think that Tebow and Curt Schilling are fantastic for speaking up for their beliefs. And vice versa.

Exactly Popeye. Athletes (and celebrities) have every right to make their feelings public just as the rest of us do. I happen to align with Fowler on this particular issue and tend to think the Schilling types are mostly blowhards. At the end of the day neither are going to probably impact my decision making and instead I'll care how their stat line impacted the team I randomly selected to cheer for.

[ZigZagCardsFan]

I get annoyed when politics spills over into games that I'm watching because I look to sports as something of an escape. But on their own time, preach to the Church of Satan for all I care.

Hit the ball and we can have an amicable relationship as long as you're not a total dirt bag.

[Socnorb11]

The argument some of the "stick to sports!" people are making (and not one I agree with) is that celebrities, athletes, entertainers, etc. don't live or converse among "real" people, so they are out of touch and their opinion means less. The other argument seems to be that an athlete being outspoken about an issue will bait the media into covering that rather than sports. This is a little more defensible, but still misguided in my opinion.

Of course, most people who say "stick to sports" usually do so to athletes they disagree with. The ones they agree with they tend to applaud for speaking out.

ie: the cult following of Tim Tebow. Dude can talk politics and religion all he wants because he's not one of the "out of touch" athletes.

LOL.......... what?

Not to paint with too large of brush, but I'm guessing those who think Fowler and Kaepernick should shut up and play think that Tebow and Curt Schilling are fantastic for speaking up for their beliefs. And vice versa.

1) I'm not sure what Schilling has to do with Tebow

2) LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of people told Tebow to shut up and play.

[Popeye_Card]

They share supporters on the right side of the political spectrum.

And I believe I just agreed that people said that Tebow should shut up and play.

FWIW, I don't think I've ever been in favor of an athlete keeping quiet about their political/religious beliefs. They just have to maintain awareness that coming out too strong can alienate teammates, just as it would in any workplace.

[sighyoung]

In fairness, lots of people told Fowler to shut up and play.

Lots of people told Tebow to stop playing.

[GeddyWrox]

In fairness, lots of people told Fowler to shut up and play.

Lots of people told Tebow to stop playing.

[tlombard]

You guys almost got me. I just flipped over to a new window to Google Tebow to see if there is any news of him this spring before I caught myself. I don't want that in my search history. I'll have to go into Incognito mode first otherwise I'll start having Tebow news pop up everywhere and that would drive me insane.