By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2024-10-29 15:05:00
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
2024年10月24日，德克萨斯州达拉斯：圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)在达拉斯美国航空中心球馆与达拉斯独行侠队比赛的第一节比赛中观察比赛。
上周末，在一个长期以来选出与其政见不合官员的州，一位著名的体育人物发表了一项政治声明，他知道这会激怒他球队相当一部分的球迷。
全国都注意到了这一点。半个大陆之外的一间更衣室里的球员们也是如此。
“我很想知道他的理由，”周一，一位马刺球员谈到尼克·博萨(Nick Bosa)在NBC周日橄榄球夜上的“让美国再次伟大”的举动时说道。
我们只能猜测这些理由是什么，因为博萨——这位闯入旧金山49人队采访的防守端锋——不屑于解释它们。与前一天花了12分钟以上的时间明确表达自己信仰及其原因的马刺队主教练波波维奇不同，博萨认为没有必要详细说明。
“我不想谈太多，”博萨告诉记者，当被问及为什么他要特意公开支持这一立场时。“但我认为这是一个重要的时刻。”
他究竟为什么认为这是一个重要的时刻？我们不知道，因为博萨不愿说。
究竟是什么信息如此重要，以至于他觉得有必要闯入NBC对队友布罗克·珀迪(Brock Purdy)和乔治·基特尔(George Kittle)的采访，当数百万双眼睛盯着这个国家收视率最高的每周电视节目时，指着他的“让美国再次伟大”的帽子？显然，博萨把这种解读留给了我们。
这有点怯懦，而且与他明显的政治立场无关。博萨和波波维奇一样，拥有绝对的权利表达他对周围世界的看法。
然而，这两个人中只有一个人有胆量——就像现在孩子们所说的那样——拍着胸脯说出自己的想法。
“危险紧随妄想而来，”波波维奇周六在回答一位法国记者关于11月大选的问题时，花了很长时间说道，“我们的子孙后代将不得不承受（前总统唐纳德·特朗普）所带来的后果。”
他不是在代表他的组织发言，也没有声称这样做。马刺队，就像49人队和世界上大多数职业体育球队一样，都有利益相关者，他们宁愿球队最知名的面孔不要冒险疏远任何客户。而且波波维奇的意识形态在德克萨斯州并不比博萨的意识形态在加利福尼亚州更受欢迎。
但正如波波维奇自2016年以来多次做的那样，他为自己辩护，并引用具体例子来支持他的观点。他的独白可能有点太长了，而且有时可能失去了重点，但它没有留下任何解释他推理的空间。
另一方面，博萨呢？就在同一天，成千上万戴着像他一样帽子的人在纽约麦迪逊广场花园狂欢，而演讲者则用粗俗、种族主义的“笑话”嘲笑拉丁裔、黑人、巴勒斯坦人和犹太人，同时称对方（哔——）党中的“所有人”是“堕落者”和“下等人”，博萨却让我们来决定他的意思是什么。
也许他不同意在麦迪逊广场花园集会上表达的观点。也许他觉得它们很冒犯。也许他在俄亥俄州大学的严格学习只是让他成为了一个坚定的国际关税作为经济政策的支持者。
然而，如果是这样，他为什么不告诉我们呢？
谈谈另一位因场外政治信息而声名鹊起的旧金山橄榄球运动员，但没有人能指责科林·卡佩尼克(Colin Kaepernick)不愿意解释自己。事实上，“解释自己”的部分正是他所做的一切的重点。
正如博马尼·琼斯(Bomani Jones)在本周优秀的“The Right Time”播客中指出的那样，人们忘记了大约在八年前卡佩尼克跪着演奏国歌的同时，跑卫马肖恩·林奇(Marshawn Lynch)习惯于坐着演奏国歌。那么，为什么卡佩尼克会成为一个被整个联盟排斥的贱民，而林奇几乎没有受到任何反击呢？
林奇从未具体说明他的理由。卡佩尼克一遍又一遍地做了。
“勇气，”琼斯说，“就在于愿意这样做。”
这比任何其他事情都更能说明博萨和波波维奇上周末发表的声明之间最显著的区别。这不仅仅是因为他们对世界有不同的看法，或者他们投票支持不同的总统候选人。
其中一人，在一个大多数选民都不同意他的州的核心地带，有机会表达自己的观点，然后迅速退缩，假装他没有什么可提供的。
至于另一个人呢？
无论你是否同意他的观点，我们只能说马刺队的更衣室里——或者其他任何地方——没有人需要怀疑波波维奇的理由。
2024年10月26日，德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥：圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)在霜冻银行中心与休斯顿火箭队的下半场比赛中对他的球队大喊大叫。马刺队在他们的第一个主场比赛中以109-106击败了火箭队。
2024年10月28日，星期一，在圣安东尼奥举行的NBA篮球比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)（左）在上半场与马刺队前锋维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)离开球场时向他打招呼。 (美联社照片/达伦·阿贝特)
2024年9月15日，星期日，在明尼阿波利斯举行的NFL橄榄球比赛中，旧金山49人队防守端锋尼克·博萨(Nick Bosa)在与明尼苏达维京人队比赛结束后走下球场。维京人队以23-17获胜。
2024年10月26日，星期六，在霜冻银行中心举行的NBA主场揭幕战中，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)在下半场暂停期间与后卫克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)（3号）交谈。马刺队以109-106击败了火箭队。
2024年9月29日，星期日，在加利福尼亚州圣克拉拉举行的NFL橄榄球比赛下半场，旧金山49人队防守端锋尼克·博萨(Nick Bosa)（左）在擒杀新英格兰爱国者队四分卫雅各比·布里塞特(Jacoby Brissett)并拿到掉球后，受到线卫塔图姆·贝休恩(Tatum Bethune)（48号）的祝贺。
2024年9月29日，星期日，在加利福尼亚州圣克拉拉举行的NFL橄榄球比赛下半场，旧金山49人队防守端锋尼克·博萨(Nick Bosa)（97号）在新英格兰爱国者队四分卫雅各比·布里塞特(Jacoby Brissett)（底部）身上庆祝。
点击查看原文：Bosa and Popovich both make statements, but only one gives his reasons
Bosa and Popovich both make statements, but only one gives his reasons
DALLAS, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Head coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs looks on while playing the Dallas Mavericks during the first quarter of the game at American Airlines Center on October 24, 2024 in Dallas, Texas.
Last weekend, in the heart of a state with a long track record of electing officials who disagree with him, a well-known sports figure made a political statement he knew would anger a chunk of his team’s fan base.
The nation took notice. So, too, did players in a locker room a half a continent away.
“I’d be interested to hear his reasons,” one Spur said Monday, referring to Nick Bosa’s “Make America Great Again” moment on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
We only can guess what those reasons were, because Bosa — the San Francisco 49ers interview-crashing defensive end — could not be bothered to explain them. Unlike Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who the previous day spent more than 12 minutes leaving no doubt about what he believes and why he believes it, Bosa saw no need to elaborate.
“I’m not going to talk too much about it,” Bosa told reporters asking why he’d gone out of his way to make a very public endorsement. “But I think it’s an important time.”
Why, exactly, does he think it’s an important time? We don’t know, because Bosa won’t say.
What message, exactly, was so important to him that he felt the need to barge in on NBC’s interview with teammates Brock Purdy and George Kittle, with millions of eyeballs watching the country’s highest-rated weekly TV program, and point to his “Make America Great Again” hat? Bosa, apparently, is leaving that interpretation up to us.
It smacks of cowardice, and it has nothing to do with his apparent political affiliation. Bosa, like Popovich, has the absolute right to express his thoughts about the world around him.
Only one of those two guys, however, had the gumption to — as the kids put it these days — say it with his whole chest.
“The danger follows the delusion,” Popovich said Saturday during a long answer to a French reporter’s question about the November election, “and our kids and grandkids are gonna have to live with what (former president Donald Trump) puts out there.”
He was not speaking for his organization, nor was he claiming to do so. The Spurs, like the 49ers and most every pro sports franchise in the world, have stakeholders who would just as soon not have the team’s most recognizable faces risk alienating any customers. And Popovich’s ideology isn’t much more popular in Texas than Bosa’s is in California.
But as Popovich has done so many times since 2016, he spoke for himself, citing specific examples to support his case. His monologue might have been a little too long, and it might have lost its focus at times, but it left no room for interpretation about his reasoning.
Bosa, on the other hand? On the same day thousands of people wearing hats like his reveled at New York’s Madison Square Garden while speakers made crude, racist “jokes” about Latinos, about Black people, about Palestinians and Jewish people, while calling “everyone” in the opposing (bleeping) party “degenerates” and “lowlives,” Bosa left it up to us to decide what he meant.
Maybe he disagrees with the sentiments espoused at the MSG rally. Maybe he found them offensive. Maybe his rigorous studies at Ohio State simply made him a huge proponent of international tariffs as an economic policy.
If so, however, why won’t he tell us that?
Say what you will about another San Francisco football player who gained notoriety for off-field political messaging, but nobody can accuse Colin Kaepernick of being unwilling to explain himself. In fact, it was the “explaining himself” part that was the whole point of what he did.
As noted this week by Bomani Jones on the excellent “The Right Time” podcast, people forget that around the same time Kaepernick was kneeling for the national anthem eight years ago, running back Marshawn Lynch was in the habit of remaining seated for it. So why did Kaepernick become a pariah who wound up being ostracized by an entire league, while Lynch received virtually no blowback?
Lynch never specified his reasons. Kaepernick did, over and over again.
“And the courage,” Jones said, “is in the willingness to do just that.”
That, more than anything, is the most striking difference between the statements made by Bosa and Popovich last weekend. It’s not just that they have disparate views of the world, or that they’re voting for opposing presidential candidates.
One of them, in the heart of a state where most of the electorate disagrees with him, was given a chance to make his case, and then promptly backed down, pretending he had nothing to offer.
As for the other?
Agree with him or not, let’s just say that no one in the Spurs locker room — or anywhere else — needs to wonder about Popovich’s reasons.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich yells at his team during the second half against the Houston Rockets at Frost Bank Center on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. The Spurs defeated the Rockets, 109-106, in their first home game of the season.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, left, greets Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama as he walks off of the court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Minneapolis. The Vikings won 23-17.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich talks with guard Chris Paul (3) during a time out in the second half of their NBA home opener with the Houston Rockets at the Frost Bank Center on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. The Spurs beat the Rockets 109-106.
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, left, is congratulated by linebacker Tatum Bethune (48) after Bosa sacked and recovered a fumble by New England Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024.
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) celebrates over New England Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett, bottom, during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News