You bring up a good point that sports (like every arena of life) has always had some political controversies around it, but I'd still maintain that my general p

You bring up a good point that sports (like every arena of life) has always had some political controversies around it, but I'd still maintain that my general point that many things such as sports aren't working as a form of escapism for many people because of an increased political impact still stands. Perhaps the following things are different and more impactful today than in the past in the realm of sports. > We live in a 24/7 media sensationalism society: turning a lot of what should be a minor distraction into things that you can't escape encountering on social media, sports recaps, every game you watch, etc repeatedly until you're just overwhelmed from it. > The distraction isn't so much that players are making their own gestures that are meaningful to them; it's that the leagues are getting involved too such as the NBA writing social justice slogans on the uniforms and court or sports leagues and teams pathetically virtue signaling on every conceivable issue on social media. It's increasingly difficult to follow sports and avoid this part of it. That said, forget sports for a minute and consider that all walks of life are becoming more politicized. You can't play video games without getting immersed in political controversies. You can't follow Hollywood without the same. Where's the escapism? And are people concocting more real world conspiracy theories as a form of coping with this and how shitty the world is becoming? That's my theory until proven otherwise.