Sport Icons of the Americas
Zlatan
Ibrahimovic gave an interview that caused him to trend on Twitter. The tall
Swedish soccer player gave his opinion on athletes and their role in society. In
particular, he mentioned the likes of Lebron James. Zlatan’s take was along the
lines that he is not a fan of athletes gaining status and using it to get into
politics. To quickly summarize, stick to sports, or what they are good at.
Zlatan
can voice his opinion, he is known to have very strong views, usually of
himself, but this one he jumps into something he knows very little about. This
is not to say that Zlatan is wrong or said something offensive. In fact, I
believe that he stated what he said based on his personal professional career.
One where he has built himself up and has avoided (so far) to be pulled into
arenas he isn’t familiar with. It is one thing to say that Zlatan avoids
politics and another to say that others should as well. In doing so he puts
himself into a historically naïve category. One where people with the luxury of
saying they stay out of politics can and do so for their personal and most
likely financial reasons.
I
wouldn’t condemn Zlatan as purposely aiding the oppressor, but when people are
not informed like in this particular situation, it doesn’t help the oppressed
at all. The “white moderates” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it in his
writings. I also do not take Zlatan’s comments, not just this one, but overall,
with any bearing. However, his interview did make me think about the athletes
across the Atlantic from the likes of Zlatan and their view in politics.
To
focus on the Americas I picked three athletes. The criteria I chose was simple,
they have or had to be black, successful in their sport and a global icon. In
other words, the GOATs (Greatest Of All Time) of their respected sports. And
the very last but not least one was that they had to be from the Americas, aka
the New World. Pele, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan were the three athletes
that I have been thinking about as of late in the topic of sport and politics.
Pele
is the only player to this date to have won three World Cups (1958, 1962, 1970)
and is in most if not all conversations of being one of the best soccer players
ever! Muhammad Ali was one of the best boxers not just of his times, but ever
to set foot into a ring. Michael Jordan, the six-time NBA champion with the
Chicago Bulls is the standard when it comes to discussions and heated debates
on who is the best basketball player ever.
These
three athletes played different sports and in somewhat a similar time, from the
1950s to the early to mid-90s. All three have left their mark and not just in
their sport, but on a global stage and that is where my interest and analysis
comes in. For those who have studied each athlete in a biographical manner or
race and sport may have a gist of where my generalizations come from. Pele literally
represented Brazil at an international sporting event. In a new Netflix
documentary about the Brazilian soccer star juxtaposes Pele’s playing career
and how the government of brazil went from a democracy into a military
dictatorship.
Pele
was an already well-known global icon when Brazil was overtaken by a military
coup. Which is why I think he was spared from any serious repercussion from the
military government. In fact, they used Pele as a model for national unity and
Brazilian prowess after the 1970 triumph in Mexico. There are pictures of
Medici holding the word cup trophy along side the men’s national team. Brazil
has had and still has a racist history with slavery and keeping their black
citizens as second class. However, to paraphrase Gilberto Freyre, observed that
Brazil had treated their black population better than their neighbors up north
after taking a visit to the United States. Not sure if that was an attempt to
critique the United States or use them as a way to defend his native country of
any sins, but all I know is that it does not look good either way. That is
where the next two athletes come from.
Muhammed
Ali and Michael Jordan were born in the United States. Their status in American
sports has cemented these two as legends of their sport era. That is where the similarities
end. Their talent on the court and in the ring were remarkable, but what they
did outside is what differentiates these two Americans. Muhammad Ali was very
outspoken especially against the United States invasion of Vietnam and its
treatment on Black Americans. Ali avoided the draft on the implications that it
was immoral and due to his religion. This caused a rebuttal from the
authorities that stripped him of his rights to box in the United States. However,
Ali continued on his chosen path and never backed down.
Michael
Jordan was silent for the most part when it came to off the court issues. One
thing he did was capitalize on his name and image creating the Air Jordan brand
making him into one of the richest athletes ever. One could argue that at the
time it was after the civil rights movement, what more was there to fight. Yet,
that would not be an honest analysis. Jordan’s teammate, Craig Hodges,
continued to fight for representation and fair treatment on the Black community
in the US. Hodges attempted to get Jordan to speak out as people would listen
to him. But Republicans buy shoes too, right?
Pele,
Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan all had GOAT worthy sporting careers that
propelled them to become global icons. Outside of sports each of them was different.
One could argue that Pele and Michael Jordan may have had more in common than Ali.
The comparison isn’t to tarnish or rank these athletes, but to understand how
they lived their lives outside of sport because sports are just part of it. Pele
played soccer and helped establish Brazil as a soccer nation even though his
nation was overtaken by a military dictatorship. Muhammad Ali was just a boxer,
yet he was drafted to fight in a war he did not want to for a country that did
not see him as a citizen. Michael Jordan established himself as one of the most
marketable brands ever.
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