February 7, 2025 at 12:23PM

In reply to: The spineless cowardice of the NCAA's anti-trans swerve

Rodger Sherman is arguably the best sports writer in the country right now, and I’m grateful to see him take such a strong position on this.

There’s a lot of good commentary here on sports and gender identity, but this seems to be the key observation for understanding what’s happening with the NCAA:

It’s easy to explain the flip-flop: The NCAA has lost court case after court case about their core business model, the premise that colleges should be allowed to profit from athletics without paying the athletes. They’re hoping for Trump and Congress to bail them out through legislation stating that college athletes are not employees. If Republicans hand the NCAA legislative wins, it could save an organization on the brink. Baker has apparently decided not to mess that chance up over a couple of trans kids.

There’s a certain kind of activist and a certain kind of commentator who perceives “social issues” and “identity politics” as a distraction to economic issues. I think this is a good example of how it’s not easy — or desirable — to separate identity from economics. The people who want to stop you from unionizing will discriminate against you in a heartbeat, and the people who want to discriminate against you definitely want to stop you from gaining bargaining power.

This moment, like all others, is a time for solidarity.