A New Year’s Resolution for Conservative Athletes

I’ve been a sports fan since I could talk. Growing up, whenever I went to see my beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers with my dad, I insisted we be in the stadium in time to see the fighter jet flyover and hear the National Anthem. Looking back, I see now that those times with him united in one place the core values that have made America great: family, love of country, and, on the field, a commitment to meritocracy.

But now, as I take my own son to games, we don’t see our values represented on the field of play. In recent years, many athletes, and even entire pro sports leagues, have bowed down to left-wing causes. In 2016, the NBA pulled the All-Star Game from Charlotte after the North Carolina legislature decreed that people must use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex. 

While the NBA began supporting woke values as early as 2016, things really picked up steam in the NBA COVID bubble in 2020. Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Jim Poorten/NBAE via Getty Images)

In the same year, NFL players like Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the National Anthem. Later, in 2020, I saw "Black Lives Matter" painted in the end zone. In 2021, when the Bucs played in the Super Bowl, the seat next to me was filled by a cardboard cutout instead of a real fan because of ridiculous COVID-19 rules (but standing elbow to elbow in line for beer and merchandise was fine). And when the state of Georgia reformed its voting laws in 2021 to require an ID to vote, Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star Game from Atlanta.

Just as it had done in our universities, mainstream media outlets, and corporate America, the woke mind virus had infected the sports world. Granted, there were some who refused to cower. Tim Tebow, for example, has always been outspoken about his commitment to following Christ. In 2020, Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic refused to join his teammates in protesting the National Anthem. Sadly, their stands for sanity, truth, and freedom were mostly the exception.

But now the ground is shifting. A greater number of athletes have found the courage to openly promote God, family, and America. In May, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, a devout Catholic, made media heads explode with his commencement address at Benedictine College, a small Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas. Butker condemned the evils of abortion, lauded the virtues of women as homemakers, and offered a call to the young men in attendance to embrace their God-given role as leaders in the home and society: "As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in."

Another athlete—as a matter of speaking—also outed himself as a conservative during the 2024 Republican National Convention. When Hulk Hogan took the podium that July night, he happily gave the crowd a taste of his in-ring persona. But then he became Terry Bollea, an ordinary American citizen, and addressed America in a much more serious tone: "As an entertainer, I try to stay out of politics, but after everything that’s happened to our country over the past four years…I can no longer stay silent." Hell yeah brother!

Former WWE legend Hulk Hogan voiced his support for Donald Trump at several rallies during the 2024 campaign. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Finally, days before the presidential election, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa donned a Make America Great Again hat in front of the camera during a postgame celebration. Remarkably, within days, Bosa’s jersey skyrocketed to become the #1 selling jersey in the NFL’s online shop. As his jersey sales indicate, ordinary Americans have embraced him. Many also cheered NHL players who refused to be coerced into wearing Pride flags on their jerseys—so much so that the league has announced it will no longer have themed jerseys at all. And it isn’t just  men taking a stand: University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines has been denouncing men in women’s sports ever since transgender swimmer Lia Thomas stole Gaines’ Trophy in the  NCAA Women’s Championship in 2022 and shared a locker room with Gaines and other female swimmers..

Now, with a new year upon us, it’s time for more athletes to give people what they want: public displays of the values that are important to them.

Athletes who love God, their families, and America should show those who believe what they do who they are.

We want to see you pray publicly, and not just when there’s a serious injury on the field, or after the game.

We want to see you refuse to bend to sporting left-wing slogans.

Are you pro-life? Let us know.

The wind is at your back: this past November, Americans who were sick of being canceled and called "garbage" showed up in droves to cast their vote for a president who spoke for them. Athletes at all levels have begun doing the "Trump dance" to celebrate a big play. Some do it out of pure fun. But it’s also evidence of a big "vibe shift:" Many athletes are no longer afraid to be identified with Donald Trump.

To all athletes: More advocacy in 2025 will inspire the common person—and especially kids—to live our values, too. Show us that we aren’t alone when we face the same attempts to be silenced at our own jobs or at the school board meeting.

These days, I still attend every Bucs home game with my seven-year-old son. An aspiring fighter pilot, he too demands that he doesn’t miss the National Anthem and the flyover before kickoff. I hope that these moments will help lead him to embrace a life filled with love of family and country. If he sees his heroes speaking up for what they believe in, I’ll have even more faith he’ll grow up to be the man I want him to be.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - SEPTEMBER 11: An overall view during the national anthem with an American flag on the baseball field before the game between the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies at Comerica Park on September 11, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)