by Craig Colby
The best day in sports in 2020 occurred without one meaningful game being played. Baseball was in the off season, hockey hadn’t agreed to start date yet, it was between weeks of the NFL, and the NBA was in pre-season. In fact, almost all of the games involved in the best day in sports of 2020 were played in the first half of the last century and one will be played in 2021. This year’s best day in sports was December 16 thanks to two major announcements.
Equal, Not Separate
First, Major League Baseball announced they would be folding the Negro League records in with their own, acknowledging that the Negro Leagues were equals in every way to Major League Baseball. The careers of players like Satchell Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson finally occupy the same space as Babe Ruth, Bob Feller and Ty Cobb.
Josh Gibson, in particular, will occupy lofty heights in the record book, claiming the top spot for career slugging percentage over Babe Ruth (.690 for Gibson and .6897 for Ruth) and moving into second place in career batting average, right behind Ty Cobb (.365 for Gibson and .366 for Cobb). Putting those two stats together equates Gibson with the greatest hitters for power and average of his day, an unheard-of combination that, in my mind at least, puts him at the head of the conversation for best player ever.
Health Care Workers, Take a Seat
The second announcement on December 16th was that the NFL would invite health care workers who have been vaccinated to attend the Super Bowl. Their goal is to encourage people to take the vaccine and follow health guidelines. This announcement comes as a third of Americans are unwilling to get vaccinated while Americans are dying every 30 seconds from the disease.
December 16 packed a heavy one-two punch. Two of the biggest sporting organizations in North America addressed the two biggest problems of 2020 in a public and meaningful way. Major League Baseball has shown that we can’t solve current racial problems without addressing the past. This concept is crucial to understand as we begin to discuss reparations, for both African American and Indigenous people, in North America. The National Football League has shown how important it is to listen to health care experts. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of this pandemic.
Consider This Source
As important as the actions are, who took them is even more significant. Many people ignore opinions they don’t agree with even if they’re backed up by solid data. In fact, if a source sends a discordant message often enough, even one that is accurate, it will be dismissed entirely. That’s why organizations like Fox “News” spend so much time characterizing their opponents as liberals or the leftists. If you demonize someone, their ideas won’t matter. As a result, people ignore Dr. Fauci’s opinion in favour of their buddy, Jeff.
To some people, it doesn’t matter what voices of inclusion or health care experts say. As long as they’re the ones saying it, it can’t possibly be right. That’s when the information needs to come from someone else.
Sports can be an agent for social change. They’re everybody’s buddy Jeff. Because they’re safe and fun, things they say and do matter more than they probably should. Dissenters will still object, like they did when Colin Kaepernick took a knee or Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier, but they’ll get used to it.
So here’s to Major League Baseball, the National Football League and December 16, the day opinion leaders led on things that matter. I’ll cheer for that any day.
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Craig Colby is a television executive producer, producer, director, writer and story editor. He runs a storytelling consulting and production service for businesses. He can be reached at craig@colbyvision.net for consulting, training, writing or production.