Sports and Politics Don't Mix

After religion, the two most passionate interests of human beings are sports and politics. It can be a dangerous tail when the two mix. Anyone remember Richard Nixon weighing in about who the number one team in the country should be? I'm not saying that caused Watergate, but the facts are Joe Pa is still the head coach at Penn State and Dick was run from office.

Here's the latest entry in the bad things happen when you let the glycidyl ether mix with the curing solution -- you get an epoxy that sticks like nobody's business:

"I spoke with Matt maybe three days ago," Jaguars running back Fred Taylor said. "He's a man. Like all of us, we're all human. I'm pretty sure a few of you guys voted for George Bush. In that breath, a few of you guys are probably [ticked] off about gas prices, too. We all make mistakes is what I'm trying to say. The thing is you can't do it twice."

Let's parse that out. Fred Taylor is right about second chances and learning from mistakes. He's speaking of teammate and former Razorback Matt Jones' arrest recently. The insertion of politics in the middle, well, it's pithy. It's even clever. In the end, Taylor's politics will override his message of support for his teammate. Jones gets an unintended national bounce for his problems into a whole new group of media, courtesy of his teammate's well-intentioned attempt at defense.

My personal advice in these situations for sports figures is you can not win at politics. Sports remain one of the few places in American life where the Blue and the Red states can really become Purple. Everyone U.S. Senator wants Redskins tickets -- it's neutral ground. In an election season, commenting about your personal vote should be off limits. Don't answer that question is my advice to athletes.

I will admit that my feeling about voting is colored by personal experience. One of my high school teachers, Mr. Dunn, said it best. He was one of those inspirational teachers, so of course I remember important things he said. In Louisiana, the governor's races are off-set one year from the presidential cycle (we always had to be different). One of the students in American History ask Mr. Dunn who he voted for.

A little background. Mr. Dunn was a former haberdasher in the truest sense, and was a gentleman's gentleman in the classroom. Here's a guy who was extremely even keeled. Nothing flustered him. Picture Ben Stein as your high school civics teacher.

Mr. Dunn wheeled on the student who asked, and for the first time -- and the only time I recall -- there was fire in his eyes. "You don't ask people who they voted for," Dunn snarled. "That's personal, and there is nothing more personal in America." He went on to explain how you should never, ever give up to anyone what happens in that voting booth. That it was a sacred thing.

I've wondered in years since what make him so sensitive to the question, but on a societal level he could not be more correct. The ballot might be Australian, but there was nothing that changed American politics more than the implementation of the secret ballot. I suspect Mr. Dunn is spinning in his grave at the thought of exit polling as it is used today.

Meanwhile, back at the point -- Mr. Dunn is right. I don't know who Taylor voted for, but he's given us a pretty good indication. In turn, he's singled himself out. He's made himself a story that he probably didn't intend.

I return to my No. 1 technology advice: Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should -- and putting your politics into sports quotes certainly qualifies for that maxim.