Another historical baseball example, though not directly cop-related: Joe Garagiola, who spent 30 years as a folksy national broadcaster after a career in which he spiked Jackie Robinson in 1947 and later testified on behalf of management in Curt Flood's reserve clause lawsuit.
I thought you might mention performative Christianity as part of the US sports culture, too, beyond just Kershaw. Though admittedly my mind goes to football examples over baseball at the moment so maybe that's why. But I am thinking of how into at least the 1980s Christian athlete groups were looked at askance by baseball players and/or writers. But now several guys in each game have cross eye black or bible verses on their hats or gloves, etc. If you only watched US sports you'd think everyone is getting way more religious over the decades instead of the opposite.
Another historical baseball example, though not directly cop-related: Joe Garagiola, who spent 30 years as a folksy national broadcaster after a career in which he spiked Jackie Robinson in 1947 and later testified on behalf of management in Curt Flood's reserve clause lawsuit.
I thought you might mention performative Christianity as part of the US sports culture, too, beyond just Kershaw. Though admittedly my mind goes to football examples over baseball at the moment so maybe that's why. But I am thinking of how into at least the 1980s Christian athlete groups were looked at askance by baseball players and/or writers. But now several guys in each game have cross eye black or bible verses on their hats or gloves, etc. If you only watched US sports you'd think everyone is getting way more religious over the decades instead of the opposite.