Growing up, my father and I didn't always see eye to eye on much of anything. I loved him dearly, and I appreciated him supporting me through Boy Scouts and all, but the one thing we really could share away from scouting was sports.

Dad was a die-hard football fan. He preferred college football, like many here in the Deep South, but he'd watch it all, and I'd watch it with him.

Then there were the Olympics.

As a family, we'd tune into the opening ceremonies, then watch whatever events were being shown, eager to see Team USA bring home the gold. 

Back then, sports were sports. Yeah, some athletes were political, and those political beliefs spilled into their actions as athletes, but it wasn't often, and they were largely criticized for it, thus pressuring them to keep it off the field.

Those days are long gone, I'm........

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