Thomas Freer on Role of sports in uniting and dividing nations
Thomas Freer
Role of sports in uniting and dividing nations
Claims and stances
Transcript
- 0:00 Yeah, those were some great points you made.
- 0:03 And I think one more example to look at, especially within the United States, just generally throughout our history, um, sports have been a great way to pioneer uh change in regards to the civil rights movement.
- 0:19 If you look at guys like Jackie Robinson and um obviously in baseball, and then Bill Russell in basketball, Bill Russell won 11 championships playing for the Celtics, and uh he also coached and played as well, continued, he had a great career.
- 0:37 Um, but while he was playing, while he was coaching, he was also paving the way for civil rights movements.
- 0:43 He was putting in a ton of work on that end, and many people argue that he accomplished as successful as he was on the court and as a coach, he accomplished way more in terms of the civil rights movement.
- 0:57 He had great successes there, and he sadly just passed away recently, but he was a very celebrated individual.
- 1:04 And then switching gears, if you look at internationally, just recently, the NHL, uh this last season, instead of doing the normal all-star game during the all-star break or whatever they do, um, like basket, like the NBA has been come under fire for doing because you know, players just don't take it very seriously.
- 1:25 Uh, they don't really try, they don't care to win at all.
- 1:27 The NHL just did the four-nation face-off between the USA, um, Canada, Finland, and Sweden.
- 1:37 And it was a it was great.
- 1:38 It was a hit.
- 1:39 Everyone was talking about it all over social media.
- 1:42 Sure, millions of people were watching it.
- 1:44 Um, and as much as there was some hatred in the beginning, I know we definitely wanted to beat Canada.
- 1:49 Um, it was definitely friendly banter in the end.
- 1:53 Um, and it was just a great event.
- 1:55 I think everyone would look forward to seeing that every year.