Unity or Division? 

     A question for Americans: Do sports unify us, or divide us? 

     This blogger is a lifelong Ohio State fan. A man who sits near me in church is a Michigan fan. Serious opposition but we are united in occasional sports entertainment. We know the rules, and we accept the outcome, if disappointed. And we are united in faith. 

     Clay Travis, host of a radio program and founder of a sports media company, spoke at Hillsdale College in April. He talked of woke people who are dividing Americans through sports. Some highlights:

     "In 1998, almost 36 million viewers watched Chicago play Utah in game six of the National Basketball Assn. finals. A record. At that time there were 70 or 80 million fewer people in America than today. 

     "Fast forward to the 2020 finals. Lebron James and the Los Angels Lakers defeated the Miani Heat in another game six to win the championship. This was the least watched finals game in generations, with only 7.4 million viewers. The NBA lost 80 percent of its audience during a time when the U.S. population grew by 30 percent. 

     "What explains it? The NBA embraced woke ideology. 

     "The league painted the slogan 'Black Lives Matter' on its basketball courts. It postponed a playoff game because a black man, a serial domestic abuser, armed with a knife, was shot by police. The police had been summoned to the scene by a black woman who called 911 because she was terrified of the man. 

     "WNBA players wrote the man's name on their jerseys. Then players in both leagues began replacing the names on their jerseys with left wing political slogans. Professional basketball identified itself with the belief that America is systemically racist, rotten to the core."

Tomorrow: NBA and communist China