Hogging the ball

T-E-A-M.\nThis is the concept that places Toni Smith's brave and intriguing gesture in a more subtly-lit spot-light. We want to praise her for her courage, reminding us how great our freedom is -- the freedom to dissent and question authority. Still, we wonder about propriety.\nSmith is a part of a whole: the Manhattanville College women's basketball team. In that setting, she is a cog. Her job is to place herself 100 percent within the game, working for the greater good of her team. Just as one would look down upon a player who singles herself out by hogging the ball, Smith is running the risk of singling herself out by hogging the spotlight. \nEvery time Smith turns her back to the flag, not only does she make her statement -- which no one denies she has the right to make -- but she turns her back on her team, focusing all the cameras on her, implicitly saying she's more important than the job at hand: the game.\nThis is not to imply the basketball arena is an improper place for protest. We can't "get away" from politics. It's honorable that Smith is challenging our ideas of where and when to be political. However, the kind of tension surrounding this controversy will inevitably take its toll on performance.\nAnyone who has played sports knows how vital focus is to victory. It'd be difficult to convince us that constant hecklers, people rushing the court and the overwhelming media coverage will not cause moments of relapse in the team's mental composure. Furthermore, it is known that though her teammates support her rights, not all agree with her position. It's unlikely that with politics becoming suddenly central to Manhattanville basketball coverage, a word or two will not slip in edgewise in the locker room. When has the political ever failed to become also personal?\nOther forms of protest have been effective and have not required such a strain on the team. The 1968 Olympic black-unity gesture by Tommie Smith and John Carlos touched and challenged America, but occurred afterward and took no toll on the actual event. They won first, "talked" later. Other players around the country show their dissent with armbands, tattoos and inscriptions on their footwear, avoiding disrupting the game. \nPolitics and sports can meet on the other side, but only when they player's primary objective takes precedence over their political activism. \n-- JP Benitez and Aaron Sharockman