Colin Cowherd: ‘Don’t let sports become politics’

Colin Cowherd loves covering and debating sports, but he’s urging its “fragile media” to not go the way of politics.

Returning to his Fox Sports Radio show after a 17-day break, Cowherd offered a brief synopsis of the headlines he missed in recent weeks and concluded, “Don’t let sports become politics.”

“Not a lot of coaches got into their 70s and were at their best. Bill Belichick, six rings, even named a boat after it. ‘He feels a bit like a dinosaur.’ You can have those conversations,” Cowherd said of sports discussions. “Expectations. Adult conversations. Win now, you’re paid a lot. Yet, in the Democratic Party, it’s considered agist, harsh, mean, to have discussions about Joe Biden’s age? His mental acuity? I don’t know, it feels like the president is a fairly important job. I read that people were caught off guard by his regression. You don’t have iPhones? Grow up. Have a real conversation. People were having conversations and questioning it four years ago.”

People were not caught off guard by Biden’s regression at 81 after nearly one full term in the White House. They were caught off guard by the need to acknowledge his regression. And after last month’s debate, it was impossible to not at least acknowledge a regression. Of course, it’s hard to get too caught up in age being a detriment when his 78-year-old opponent is no spring chicken either.

“But in politics… ‘I’m uncomfortable.’ Not in sports,” Cowherd continued. “It’s why I defended, vigorously, the Angel Reese/Caitlin Clark discussions. The girls could handle it, the women were fine. It’s all the fragile sports media asking weird, dorky questions and being uncomfortable with it…and you should push back on fragile sports media. If they’re outraged by things that are happening to everybody.

“I enjoy politics every four years, but the reason I love sports is accountability and adult conversations and debate at home, on a show, in a bar. Real people talking about real things. Pressurized situations. Don’t let sports become politics…Sports has some politics in it, let’s never let it become politics. I like what it is now. And sometimes it’s harsh and tough and almost mean and a little rude. And we debate, sometimes over a beer, and it’s what I love about sports and what drives me crazy about politics.”

Accountability in sports is inherent because of scoreboards. In a sports conversation or debate, everyone agrees on the numbers, they agree on the scores and the statistics. Sports benefit from a foundation of facts that serves as a basis for any argument or discussion because everyone accepts it as truth. That does not exist in politics.

For years, Skip Bayless has been criticized and mocked for attacking LeBron James. But imagine if Bayless was able to argue ‘Michael Jordan is unequivocally the greatest NBA player ever because LeBron James has zero championships in his 20-year career’ and half his audience cheered it as factual, despite the other half knowing he won four titles.

That’s basically what political debates are. There are no universally agreed-upon facts, scores, or statistics to provide a uniform foundation for any discussion. Instead, one side will argue LeBron James has no championships, and both sides will disagree on basic facts before an adult conversation, or what’s perceived as an adult conversation, can be had.

[The Herd]