Williams' inbox: Stick to Cincinnati sports and shut up about Biden, Trump, politics

Subject: Sports and 2024 presidential race don't mix

Message: Your comment (last week) “or maybe you feel the same way about the Super Bowl as you do the 2024 presidential race: Anyone but those two” was unnecessary and gratuitous. Stick to sports. We’re in troubled times, so don’t spoil the joy of sports with injecting your political beliefs.

Reply: Dang, I thought for sure I could get away with this political comment since I was criticizing both sides. But you’re right. Politics and sports should be viewed as separation of church and state.

The line, which I wrote in a piece about who Bengals fans should root for in the Super Bowl, was intended to be light-hearted. It was meant to try to connect with those Bengals fans who can’t stand the Chiefs and 49ers. I didn’t think that deeply about it in the moment, but I guess it was meant to try to connect with the middle-of-the-road majority who believe we can do better than the current front-runners for president.

It was written in the moment. In other words, it wasn’t pre-planned. I’m not itching to inject politics into my sports commentary.

Mixing sports and politics in commentary is often a bad idea. Thinking of my own readership preferences, I don’t like it, either. Sports is our outlet from real-world problems and negativity. I need to especially be mindful of that in an election year like this.

I’ve found that readers are cool if I write a standalone column specifically about sports. They’re fine if I write a column specifically focused on politics. But mixing sports and politics in one column – even if it’s just a sentence or even a few words – often gets me in trouble.

Of course, there are times when it’s appropriate to mix sports and politics. Sometimes, sports figures wade into political issues − ill-advised as it may be − and it calls for a column. It certainly calls for a column when politicians and sports teams are involved in stadium-related issues. That’s an important, public accountability topic I love to write about, but it’s typically not a Democrat-vs.-Republican issue.

I know I’ve written this before, but your message is a good reminder: Think long and hard next time I’m tempted to mix sports and partisan politics in the same column. Thanks for holding me accountable.

Email and ask columnist Jason Williams anything − sports or non-sports – and he’ll pick some of your messages and respond on Cincinnati.com throughout the week. Contact Jason at jwilliams@enquirer.com

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Stick to Cincinnati sports and shut up about Joe Biden, Donald Trump