Sports & Politics Intersect: Chris Christie heads to the FAN

“As for the governor's future, he appreciates the interest and concern about his next employment from his friends in the media, but he is not concerned at all about it." - Chris Christie spokesman Brian Murray

Dallas Cowboys fan and New Jersey governor Chris Christie will take to the airwaves for two days next week on sports talk radio stalwart WFAN as he auditions to replace host Mike Francesa, who is expected to step down from his daytime show later this year. Christie, who is term-limited out of his current job in the coming months, will host the show for four hours on July 10 and 11. The WFAN, which celebrated its 40th year on the air earlier this week, is considered an outlier in the New York media market with a more conservative base of listeners and mainstream broadcasters who endorsed Donald Trump’s run early on in the 2016 presidential election, which could mean a softer landing for the unpopular Christie once he leaves office. 

Christie isn’t the first former governor to get into the sports broadcasting game. Former Pennsylvania Ed Rendell and Philly fanatic served as a panelist on Comcast Sportnet’s Eagles post-game show after he left office.

"I think of athletes as persons. I don't like them to be turned into roulette chips." - Former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley arguing against legalized sports betting in 1992

Before heading into recess at the end of June, the Supreme Court agreed to hear New Jersey’s appeal of the U.S. 3rd Circuit’s ruling against the state in their efforts to allow for legal sports betting, currently banned under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 which limits gambling nationwide. New Jersey voters approved a bill to allow for sports betting in 2011 in an effort to shore up Atlantic City casino business, but have repeatedly been blocked by the courts from enacting the law. Some court observers believe the odds are in the state’s favor as the court has reversed nearly two-thirds of decisions in recent years, leading eight states to preemptively start the sports betting approval process with the hope that PASPA will be overturned. Some industry insiders worry the court could also remove the Nevada exception to the law.

PASPA it should be noted was the work of then-New Jersey senator and former NBA player Bill Bradley, who lead the national push against sports betting outside of Nevada over the objections of former Atlantic City casino operator Donald Trump.

“It’s tough on guys in here. You’re living on edge. It’s especially tough for a lot of these guys who have been lifelong Marlins. This is all they know.” - Marlins catcher A.J. Ellis

Derek Jeter’s bid to buy the Marlins took another hit this week as Chicago billionaire Richard Chaifetz has left his group while rival bids continue to pick up steam. CNBC host Marcus Lemonis joined the Tagg Romney-led investment group (which at one point this week was rumored to be backing out of the bidding process), which now includes formal rival bidder Jeb Bush. With the departure of Bush from the Derek Jeter bid, Jeter is said to be having problems raising enough cash for the sale. Both groups have new competition as local Miami billionaire Jorge Mas is not only preparing his own bid but in recent days has moved into the lead as he can fund the purchase on his own.

“I wish we, as an industry, were more focused on it. I do think a lot of initiatives where you’re trying to get the underrepresented represented have to come from the top of an organization. They have to be committed to that idea, in order to drive meaningful change.” - Kim Ng, Senior Vice-President for Baseball Operations with Major League Baseball

Diversity issues dominated the news for three of the major sports leagues this week. According to a Los Angeles Times report, in the past seven out of eight years the number of minorities in front office positions in Major League Baseball has fallen or stayed stagnant at their already anemic levels. Critics point to the lack of inclusion at the top levels of the game off the field as one of the root problems of player and management disputes, from personality conflicts to bat-flips. MLB has made improvements by recruiting more women into more front office positions, but the number of minority managers remains the same as it was 18 years ago at the start of the Selig Rule – a guideline similar to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, but without the mandatory interview process.  

In the NBA, the Association again racked up an approving report from the The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport for the 2016-2017 season, which notes the league is far ahead of the rest of the major North American sports, although critics contend there not enough general managers of color in a league that is three-quarters black. 

And in the NFL, Terri Valenti will become the first female NFL replay official in the booth this season. Currently the league has 55 women working operational roles around the country. Samantha Rapoport, director of football development for the league, told the Sporting News this week, “If there are people here who don’t believe in women in football, I sure have not come across them."

“Though it may seem as if Major League Baseball’s problems with Hernandez begin and end with some personal animus Torre and some other individuals in the Office of the Commissioner may have towards Hernandez, an overview of how Major League Baseball has treated minorities such as Hernandez shows a much deeper and more troubling trend.” - Legal filing of Hernandez’s suit against MLB

Umpire Angel Hernandez filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball for racial discrimination in the league’s promotion and postseason assignments, citing there has only been one minority crew chief and only one person of color to work the World Series since 2011. The suit also alleges that Hernandez’s performance reviews declined after former Yankees manager Joe Torre was named chief baseball officer in 2011. The two have a personal history which spilled into the press even after Torre was manager. Hernandez has been part of many baseball’s most notorious calls in recent years, although he has also bared the brunt of perhaps some unfair criticism which has more to do with baseball’s officiating system than individual biases or failures. 

Hernandez, who was born in Cuba, is scheduled to work the officiating team for next week’s All-Star Game in Miami.

Of Note: 

• The Women’s Tennis Association is looking into making children’s nurseries mandatory for athletes on the tour as more players choose to stay in the game after having kids – something already required for the men’s side on the Association of Tennis Professionals circuit. 

• The Tampa Bay Rays stated their support for the removal 106-year-old Confederate monument in downtown Tampa. The team is considering moving to Tampa from St. Petersburg. 

• Former University of Kentucky basketball star Rex Chapman penned an op-ed for Sports Illustrated thanking the Trump administration for backing off a plan to cut funding to the Office of National Drug Control Policy while the country is in the midst of an opioid addiction crisis. 

• It was revealed this week that after being brought in to speak to employees of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in 2015, former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight was investigated after staffers alleged he sexually harassed them during his visit to the agency. No charges were filed. 

• An investigation into the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund by The New York Times shows the charity disproportionately benefits wealthier Bronx zip codes further away from the stadium than the immediate neighborhoods around the new venue.  

• NFL analyst and former player Deion Sanders announced a new partnership with political fundraiser and influencer Charles Koch to fight poverty with the aim to raise $21 million dollars in the next year. 

• Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said in an interview with Fox Business the media needs to stop paying attention to President Donald Trump’s Twitter “sideshow.” 

• Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm spoke about how she feels athlete activism matters saying, “We're fighting for equality ourselves within women's basketball. When you see someone else fighting for that same equality, you want to be a part of it. It's silly not to.”  The Storm, owned by local businesswomen Lisa Brummel, Dawn Trudeau and Ginny Gilder, will host a Stand with Planned Parenthood night later this month. 

• The International Olympic Committee has asked the organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics to reduce spending as the budget for the next Summer Games continues to grow. Previous host city Rio is looking to the IOC for help to settle more than $40 million in debt from the 2016 Summer Olympics. 

• The LA 2024 bid committee announced they have the support of the NFL, NBA, MLB, WNBA and MLS for the current U.S. Summer Games bid. The IOC is set to review both the Los Angeles and Paris bids next week before the final vote in the September. 

• On the wrestling circuit, The Progressive Liberal is making quite a name for himself playing the heel, but it’s more than being the bad guy in Kentucky. He’s capturing what it feels like to be an Appalachian democrat looked down upon by the rest of the country. 

• Even when teams do everything right for promotional events the optics can still result in backlash leading some to ask if there is still room for ‘Ladies’ Nights’ in baseball. 

• The Chicago Cubs recently made a second stop at the White House this week after going in January after their World Series win, although some members of the team chose to skip the event. Team owners Joe and Marlene Ricketts were heavy-hitting contributors President Donald Trump’s election after previously backing Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. 

• Principle owner of the  San Francisco Giants Charles Johnson donated $300,000 to a super PAC that ran ads against Jon Ossoff in the Georgia 6th congressional district election as standing more with “California liberals” than Georgians. 

• Former NBA-star and current BIG3 player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf says what is happening to Colin Kaepernick today mirrors what he went through when he didn’t stand for the national anthem in the 1990s. 

• Former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry hinted she had been part of the network’s recent layoffs because of her conservative political leanings. 

• ESPN executive vice president of programming and scheduling Burke Magnus asserted the network does not have a political bent and “the whole narrative is a false one that was seeded and perpetuated primarily by a direct business competitor.”  

• At the Hashtag Sports conference in New York, reporter Jemele Hill expressed exasperation with the backlash, asking “Gregg Popovich, every week at his press conferences, is having a 10-minute soliloquy on Donald Trump. Am I supposed to act like he’s not doing that?”

For the record books: This week in sports politics history 

“The loser is always a part of the problem; the winner is always a part of the answer. The loser always has an excuse; the winner always has a program. The loser says it may be possible, but it's difficult; the winner says it may be difficult, but it's possible."  - Althea Gibson, 1991

This week in 1957 Althea Gibson became the first African American woman to win both the Wimbledon Singles and Doubles titles, and captured the U.S. Championship just a few weeks later. Often referred to as the Jackie Robinson of women’s athletics, Althea competed at a period of time when racism and sexism were omnipresent in all manner of sport and society. Her victories at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championship earned her a ticker-tape parade in New York, an honor bestowed to only one other black athlete at the time, Jesse Owens. Althea repeated her victories at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships the following year. In 1964 she joined the LPGA as its first African American woman competitor. As prize money was minuscule for female athletes and earnings mainly came in the form of endorsements, something especially not open to black athletes of the era, Althea struggled financially despite being one of the top 50 earners on the LPGA circuit. "Her road to success was a challenging one," said Billie Jean King, "but I never saw her back down."