SFC board member Dave Zirin writes about Martin Luther King Jr.’s connection with social activism by athletes in a piece today in Sports Illustrated. 

It serves as a reminder that anytime someone in a position of power claims that an issue is not worth the American public’s time and energy because it is too trivial, we must ask what lies beneath. 

And for all those issues that seem too big to tackle, there is strength in numbers and the organized uprising of underdogs yields progress.

If we don’t question authority and raise concerns over those who seek to grab more power while marginalizing sports fans, we will no longer be able to afford to bring the family to the ballpark.  We will no longer be able to flip the channel to the game as we are blacked out.  We will be shocked by our monthly TV bill as the charges skyrocket.  We will get hit up for more cash come tax time to pay for brand new stadiums that supposedly generate ‘economic development’.  Concessions and parking costs will continue to climb out of the range of affordability.

From the sports fan’s perspective, if you keep quiet, your team loses.  If we raise a ruckus, we have a better shot at winning some battles and taking the power back from those who would oppress us. 

While the significance of Martin Luther King’s civil rights battle dwarfs our own in overcoming institutional racism, bigotry, and violence, we nonetheless, feel energized by his will to overcome, his efforts to unify people for a common cause, and his belief in the underdog.