For many fans, sports are cherished and almost hallowed grounds for one very simple reason: Sports may very well be the last true meritocracy standing in a culture that seems increasingly obsessed with participation trophies.
Think about it: If the goal is to win a team championship, merit is what ultimately matters.
If your offensive lineman votes differently than you? Who cares? Can he block the quarterback’s blindside? If your point guard has radically different views on marriage or the sanctity of life? Neat. Can he throw a crisp bounce pass? If your pitcher is from a completely different country than you? Cool, how fast is his two-seamer?
Sports have a funny way of moving beyond many of the things identity politics are obsessed with, like race and ideology — unless, apparently, you’re far-left Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
(Shocking, I know.)
To set the stage, on Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency held a hearing entitled, “Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Past.”
“During the hearing, members examined efforts of the National Museum of American History (NMAH) and the broader Smithsonian Institution to promote divisive, inappropriate, and factually inaccurate programming on U.S. history,” the committee reported.
Did you watch the World Cup final?
Yes: 30% (31 Votes)
No: 70% (71 Votes)
It added: “Members criticized the use of the taxpayer-funded NMAH as a tool to promote a politicized agenda concerning issues of race, class, gender and sexuality.”
One of the main people who took the stand was Smithsonian Director Anthea Hartig, who was effectively there to defend her institution from these serious allegations, although it’s not exactly a secret that the Smithsonian has been embracing leftist ideologies. The panel included Yale University’s Professor David Blight — also a noted leftist — who was a minority witness at the hearing.
In other words, at least part of this panel was built to be the perfect sympathizer for the racial grievance ideology that is Crockett’s bread and butter.
Yet even Blight couldn’t quite grasp the full inanity of Crockett’s bizarre obsession with race.
“I want to go back real quick though, Dr. Blight, because you talked about the World Cup,” Crockett said toward the end of her time. “The World Cup that captures the imaginations of the entire world, when they saw all of these people of color that [were] playing for all these teams, and ultimately, if you recall the last two teams, it was Argentina and Spain, and it seemed like the vast majority of the world was rooting for Argentina or actually against Argentina, right?
“And why was that? Just give me an explanation, if you could guess.”
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The point of her question (which Crockett would all but confirm in a moment) was clearly about race. In Crockett’s twisted worldview, the only reason a sports fan may have for cheering or jeering a team is … race.
Blight, to his minimal credit, seemed genuinely bemused and slightly confused by the question.
“Spain had the best team,” Blight said while shrugging his shoulders, unsure of what Crockett was getting at. “Maybe that’s why they were rooting for them.”
You could then hear Crockett cackle (that’s really the best word to describe it), before noting, “There’s also a racist history that exists as it relates to Argentina.”
Thankfully, Crockett was cut off at this point … and I have to say … I’m almost impressed with Crockett’s ability to turn anything and everything into a racial grievance. It would almost be worth calling it “a talent,” if it had any function beyond dividing Americans.
(It’s practically the only strategy she has, even against fellow Democrats.)
Somehow more impressive than Crockett’s ability to turn any issue into a race issue is just how often she gets basic facts wrong. She is practically the epitome of the adage, “Why let facts get in the way of a good narrative?”
And this latest debacle about the World Cup featuring “all of these people of color” is about as brain-dead of a take as you’ve likely come to expect from Crockett.
That World Cup final between Spain and Argentina (which Spain won 1-0) featured 22 starting players, 11 for each side of the pitch. There was exactly one “person of color” among those 22 players (Spain’s Lamine Yamal).
Perhaps that’s what made Crockett’s exchange so revealing. She assumed the world was watching the World Cup through the same racial lens she views everything else. Instead, even a left-leaning historian seemed baffled by where she was trying to go.
In an era when politicians insist race is the most important thing about every issue, sports remain one of the last places where performance still matters more than identity. And Crockett’s inability to recognize that says far more about her than it does about supposedly “racist” soccer fans.
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