Jeff Van Gundy

ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy is no stranger to expressing his opinions, whether that’s on basketball or off-the-court topics such as the NBA’s domestic violence policy. Chad Finn of The Boston Globe wrote a thoughtful column on the “stick to sports” response media figures, analysts, coaches and athletes often get when they venture into politics, and he included some comments from Van Gundy on his own approach, his brother Stan’s stance, and more. Here are the highlights of Finn’s piece:

It was with ESPN’s policy in mind that I asked Jeff Van Gundy, who will be on the call of Friday night’s Warriors-Celtics game on ESPN (it also airs locally on CSN) whether he would comment on the election.

“Honestly, I don’t know,’’ said Van Gundy. “ESPN, I don’t think they’re really big on certain talk. I see some tweets by some people and I don’t think anybody gets in trouble. But I thought it was very interesting what Gregg Popovich said [Thursday]. He was asked if he was given permission by his owner [to speak out against Trump’s election], and he said, ‘No, being an American gives me permission.’ I thought that was a heck of a response.”

Van Gundy has been outspoken about social issues in the past — just last month, he suggested NBA players who are convicted of domestic violence charges should be banned for a full year. Candor is a family trait, perhaps. While Popovich and Warriors coach Steve Kerr both spoke last week about their disappointment in the outcome of the election, the first to do it was Stan Van Gundy, Jeff’s brother and the coach of the Detroit Pistons.

“What I appreciate about my brother is that he’s interested, invested, and studious about his position,’’ said Van Gundy. “I’ve never been prouder of him that he was the first guy to speak his mind. People can disagree with this or think whatever they want. But at least he had the fortitude to say what he believes.

“These owners do have a dilemma. I’m sure most of them encourage social awareness, but how much social awareness do you allow from your coaches and your management? And you have to contrast that to how much it might affect business. With the players, you really can’t. They have the right to say what they see fit. I’m interested to see if it persists.’’

Van Gundy’s pride in his brother for saying what he believes seems like a strong approach, and his comments are interesting in general. He’s right that ESPN probably doesn’t necessarily want a lot of political takes from their talent, but Popovich’s “being an American gives me permission” could apply to that as well (and that showcases the further folly of USA Today trying to tell their staffers to stay away from politics, even on their private Twitter accounts). ESPN not clamping down on staffers who express their political feelings seems more appropriate for this environment, especially considering the many ways this election could impact sports; that’s led to detailed segments on it on both ESPN and TNT so far, and we’ll probably see more of them in the days to come.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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