Expos 20: More Than a Game

"Shut up and dribble,” snarled a broadcaster when basketball star LeBron James voiced concerns about the competence of then-President Trump in 2018. The message was clear: sports and politics don’t mix. In fact, as this course explores across various media, few things in the past century have been as closely intertwined. At the same time, the relationship often appears lopsided. Politicians show little hesitation to wade into issues pertaining to athletics, but athletes—like LeBron James himself—are discouraged from airing anything resembling an opinion on matters with a wider societal bearing. Through units navigating the NFL’s suppression of concussion science, the complex relationship of race to American sports culture, and the political dynamics of consequential events within the sporting world, we will consider the following questions: what makes the world of sports such a significant setting for political activism? What authority lies in the manipulation of athletic culture by politicians? In what ways do athletes become avatars of their cultural moment, and can they ever really exist “above the fray”?

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