In this age of always-on media attention, there are few more effective ways to silence most professional athletes than to ask a pointed political question. Schooled to carefully manage their public personas, many players will studiously sidestep anything with a whiff of controversy.
The same goes for many league officials and owners. As nationwide entertainers, they steer toward the neutral middle, defending themselves with platitudes and bromides. They have businesses to run, after all, and sports and politics, they insist, do not mix, even if Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali proved otherwise.
As the former N.