‘Bunch of dorks man’: All of a sudden, it’s okay to keep politics in sports

The ones who were screaming to keep politics out of sports the loudest during the 2024 presidential campaign didn’t mean what they said. 

The same crowd is now gloating about Donald Trump’s presidential victory at UFC matches and NFL games. One disgruntled sports fan pointed out the hypocrisy of people celebrating Brock Bowers’ Donald Trump dance during an NFL match.

The original poster explained that ever since Donald Trump won the popular vote during the 2024 presidential election, Trump supporters have been emboldened to promote their politics in sports events. They claimed that they didn’t vote in the 2024 presidential election. They also argued that both sides of the political spectrum shouldn’t be using sports as a platform for politics. One university athlete agreed with this sentiment and called the crowd a “bunch of dorks, man.” Trump supporters didn’t care and resorted to mockery.

The rules don’t apply to me

For years, Trump supporters had been telling people to “shut up and dribble” when their favorite athletes promote issues or candidates that they don’t care about. They whined endlessly at the height of the NFL players’ bend the knee protests against racial injustice. They complained when NBA stars decided to endorse Kamala Harris during the presidential election.

Unsurprisingly, Trump supporters had no complaints about the excessive camera panning to Donald Trump during the Jones v. Miocic UFC fight. Donald Trump practically got Taylor Swift at the NFL levels of coverage, and they didn’t care. It also wasn’t an issue for them that Trump and his cabinet picks were getting attention during the match. When Jones danced in front of Trump after he won the match, the crowd cheered for him and Trump. It turns out athletes can express political support, so long as it’s for Trump. When they said they didn’t want politics in sports, they meant politics they don’t agree with. As Jessica Tarlov from Fox News puts it, “I guess we’ve gotten to the portion of the Trump era where we have moved past shut-up and dribble, and now it is fantastic for athletes to talk about their politics.”

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Vanessa Esguerra

Vanessa Esguerra (She/They) has been a Contributing Writer for The Mary Sue since 2023. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy, she (happily) rejected law school in 2021 and has been a full-time content writer since. Vanessa is currently taking her Master's degree in Japanese Studies in hopes of deepening her understanding of the country's media culture in relation to pop culture, women, and queer people like herself. She speaks three languages but still manages to get lost in the subways of Tokyo with her clunky Japanese. Fueled by iced coffee brewed from local cafés in Metro Manila, she also regularly covers anime and video games while queuing for her next match in League of Legends.

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