Olbermann hits a Home Run

The more Keith Olbermann writes, the more I am convinced that his is a powerful new voice for sanity and change in America.

That he comes from the realm of sports commentary humbles me, as I have always tended to think of sports and sports figures as a distraction from more serious events. When the evening news runs fifty seconds of world news and eight minutes of sports, I always reflect that our priorities as citizens are disastrous. A distinct hopeless feeling follows.

How is it possible to not to discount the intellect of people – including dear friends of mine – who can’t name a single Supreme Court justice but can name every player in every position on their local baseball teams, their salaries, batting averages, where they went to school and how they were acquired or traded?

I understand not wanting to jump into the meat grinder of politics and policy. But immersing one’s self in the minutia of professional sports has always seemed to me a way of wasting one’s mind, disengaging from the real world and our responsibilities to be informed. Were we a tenth as curious about our government as we are about our “national pastime,” for example, perhaps our nation would more closely resemble the paradise of freedom it was intended to be.

Anyway, today I am reminded that I don’t know everything there is to know, that I can be something of a snob at times, and that there are indeed thoughtful, intelligent, and concerned voices speaking out from the press box to a world beyond the stadium.