Athletes and Engagement

Will Leich of Deadspin has started writing for the New York Times' quarterly sports magazine, Play. He has a piece in the Play email newsletter today, "In Brand We Trust," that takes aim at athletes and their beliefs. He begins with their brand loyalty -- I'm a bit surprised that he does not address the true progenitors, the 1992 Dream Team, several members of which tried to cover the Reebok logo on their gear because they were under contract with other shoe companies -- but then squarely takes aim at LeBron james' unwillingness to sign a petition urging China to change its policies toward Sudan because of the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur. This is a tough line -- I'm not certain we want to be encouraging most of our athletes to be more politically preachy, but maybe it is not too much to ask them -- or any Americans -- to be more engaged. Underlying Leich's brief piece is an implication that athletes are mostly engaged only inasmuch as it plays to their bottom line.