Sports and Politics: How Do They Relate? From the outcome of a vote in congress to a recently suggested policy, sports have influenced politics for many years, starting from the end of the 19th century. Whether it's ending segregation through baseball, creating a new ally through soccer, or boosting an economy through a single sporting event, there are countless instances where a sport has helped improve a country. Where there are miracles there are also tragedies, sport can also negatively influence politics, and tragedies far outweigh miracles. There have been government boycotts, political embarrassments, and worst of all, mass murders, all of which happened because of sports. The same goes for politics and government affecting a sporting event, there have been games set in a specific location solely to boost that city's economy, some teams have been chosen to win a sporting event based on a disaster happened recently, or even a country that refuses to allow its athletes to compete to solidify their history and what they hope to achieve. As sports negatively affects politics, politics can also negatively affect sports, there have been countries that have killed others during sporting events, countries that have been dismantled due to sporting events, and even countries that refuse to let others participate in a sporting event because of their religion, ethnicity, etc. When asked to describe both sports and politics in one sentence, journalist George Vecsey (2012) said, “Obama plays it safe for a field goal. Clinton needs to hit a Grand Slam. McCain is preparing for a marathon. Candidates cannot afford mistakes, like Billy Conn trying to knock out Joe Louis in 1941. Apparently, we sports fans can... middle of paper... Russian legislation on anti-gay laws creates a Difficult situation for the US government because they have to decide between participating and being seen as a horrible person for rejecting gay/lesbian athletes or not participating and being considered weak by the Olympic powers. The Hitler era proved that no matter how powerful a government may be, if humiliated by one man, it will be overthrown. The Olympics have resulted in much bloodshed, boycotts, and protests dating back to the early 1930s and lasting from 1980 to the present day. These are just a few of the many different cases where politics has influenced sport and how sport has influenced politics. The above examples just set in stone the fact that sports has some effect on politics, be it positive or negative, there is still a correlation between the two.