Sports Is No Longer Our Refuge From The Real World

Everybody is mad at everybody else. Slinging mud, trolling them on Twitter, firing off insults, unfriending them on Facebook.

Sports was always the refuge from the real world, the place (and maybe this was only a dream) of teamwork, cooperation, submerged egos and a sense that what got said in the locker room should stay there.

Now? We’re at war. With each other. Everywhere. Get yourself an ax and start grinding.

Let’s start with the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots are seeking their fifth title and they would love to have that trophy handed to them by Commissioner Roger Goodell, who suspended Tom Brady for four games over, well, air. Patriots owner Robert Kraft can barely stay civil talking about Goodell and Patriots fans despise the commissioner. Most other fans despise the Patriots. Things go round and round in the circle game.

Check out the running feud between Charles Barkley and LeBron James. TNT sideshow host Barkley called LeBron “whiny” and LeBron called him a “hater” and then upped the ante, telling ESPN: “I’m not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, ‘I’m not a role model.’ I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.”

Very nice.

ESPN’s got an internal feud. A few days ago, NBA Countdown host Sage Steele posted a complaint on Instagram. Protesters at the airport in Los Angeles had inconvenienced her as they marched against the recent order from the president regarding immigration. She sent out a picture of the crowds and said: “So THIS is why thousands of us dragged luggage nearly 2 miles to get to LAX, but still missed our flights.” Radio host Dan Le Betard, who is of Cuban extraction, blasted back. “I, as the son of exiles, look at this, and I’m like, ‘What the hell are you talking about? Your travel plans were affected? What are you talking about?’ ” Le Batard said. “It’s the height of privilege. And so once you start opening that portal, you get ESPN-on-ESPN crime.”

Any chance we turn down the heat and let in more light?

Probably not. This is the Era of Bad Feelings and anti-social media.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman