July 23, 2021

Politics Is Spoiling the Olympics

Americans used to feel proud when our teams went to the Olympics. But when our women’s soccer team was humiliated by Sweden this week, it didn’t bother me one bit.

I don’t know how long I’ll be able to take the Tokyo Olympics.

The Games are barely underway, but I’m already turned off by the annoying political grandstanding.

On Wednesday, our cocky women’s soccer team took a knee just before the start of their match against Sweden. So did the Swedish team and the referee.

Then, as every international soccer fan knows, the Swedes proceeded to crush mighty Team USA, 3-0, ending its 44-game winning streak and making it very hard for our women to win the gold medal everyone predicted they’d win.

Women’s teams from Great Britain, Chile and New Zealand also proved they could be virtuous social justice warriors by taking to their knees before their games started.

I’m not exactly sure what — or who — all these international athletes were protesting.

Here at home, it’s usually racism, discrimination and inequality, all of which exist around the world in varying degrees and all of which we all agree are not good things.

But even without the unwelcome but predictable intrusion of politics, the Olympic Games in Tokyo were not going to be so great to watch.

First of all, because of Japan’s recent surge in COVID cases, there will be no spectators.

Plus, no athletes hugging. No handshakes. No joyous team celebrations. Just empty stadiums and arenas — and too much politics.

I’m already really tired of all the woke politics that are poisoning sports — and everything else in America, from public health to college campuses to late night TV shows.

Sports used to be a place where for a couple of hours you could escape the never-ending political troubles in the world.

But pro basketball already has been wrecked by the politics that have destroyed its TV ratings and turned off a huge segment of its fan base. The NFL’s TV ratings also have plummeted because of politics.

Now politics are ruining the Olympics.

I know I wasn’t the only American who was not sad when our powerhouse men’s basketball team — composed primarily of NBA all-stars — lost two games in the warmups to the Olympics.

How can anyone feel sad for a bunch of multimillionaires who’ve been taking knees during the National Anthem, pointing fingers at their country for being systematically racist and charging half of their white countrymen with being white supremacists?

By disrespecting the country that has given them more freedom, opportunity and riches than any other country on Earth, these social justice athletes — professional and amateur — are only hurting themselves and their causes in the long run.

If anything, by unfairly slurring all white people as inherently racist, they’re actually turning some white people into racists — including some of their own fans.

My wife Colleen and I watch and enjoy international soccer all the time. We don’t see superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo taking knees and spoiling their sport with the poison of politics.

When I turn on the Olympics I don’t want to see politics, either. I want to watch a good sporting event, be proud of my country’s athletes and root for them to win.

Americans used to feel proud when our teams went to the Olympics and racked up medals in track and field or swimming, especially when the great USA-USSR rivalry was a proxy for the Cold War.

But when our women’s soccer team was humiliated by Sweden this week, it didn’t bother me one bit — because of the politics. Millions of other Americans clearly felt the same.

Because of politics, our Olympics teams don’t make a lot of us proud anymore.

Copyright 2021 Michael Reagan

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.