Sports Politics Fatigue And A Friday Mailbag

A reporter at a tennis presser tried to bait athletes into a political sound bite, and it set us off on a bigger question: why does every postgame mic need a litmus test? We unpack how manufactured outrage crowds out real insight, why fans come for performance not punditry, and how media incentives reward traps over truth. If you’re tired of culture wars hijacking the things you love, you’ll feel seen.

From there we dive into three unforgettable Dear Abby letters. First up: a spouse discovers her husband follows scantily clad models on Instagram. Is that emotional cheating or hurtful habit? We map a practical response—honest talk, context, boundaries, and rebuilding trust without spiraling into ultimatums. Then we pivot to a jaw-dropping etiquette moment at a high-end restaurant: full-on toothbrushing at the table. We draw the line between private hygiene and public space, and why small courtesies keep shared rooms civil. Finally, we tackle a modern family knot—retired parents who won’t put their phones down, even at dinner. Instead of parenting your parents, we suggest dignity-first invites: device-free meals, shared walks, and projects that nudge attention back to connection.

We close with a thorny but timely challenge: can you separate art from politics? We compare past eras when creators’ views were opaque with today’s feed-fueled certainty. Our take is a framework, not a verdict—evaluate the behavior, weigh the impact, notice whether it enters the work, and decide whether appreciation feels like endorsement. It’s a conversation about boundaries, values, and keeping room for excellence even when we disagree.

If this resonated, tap follow, share with a friend who loves sports or etiquette debates, and leave a quick review—what’s your line for separating art from the artist?

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Thanks for listening! 

Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to anamericanistblog@gmail.com and you'll be featured on the podcast. 

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Chapters

• 0:29 Rant On Sports And Politics
• 1:20 Mystery Reporter At Tennis Match
• 2:15 Media Frustrations And Friday Setup
• 3:13 Headline Shock From Arizona A.G.
• 4:00 Dear Abby: Instagram And Marriage
• 5:32 Coffee Break And Return
• 5:35 Dear Abby: Toothbrushing At The Table
• 7:49 Dear Abby: Tech-Addicted Retired Parents
• 10:09 Question Of The Day: Separating Art And Politics

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:15

Good morning. Do you know what I don't care about? I you know when when Bill Clinton was president, or when Obama was president, or even when Joe Biden was president. You know what I did not care about during those times? What athletes thought what athletes thought it was to be like doing their athletic skills when those people were president. This reporter, and I'm gonna find out who he is. Fox News said they didn't know who he was. I cannot believe you don't know who this is. You are in the news business, Fox News. You know, it's Fox News, not Fox Entertainment. Okay. But later on they did say that Alkick is trying to find out who the reporter is. At this tennis match, I don't know what tennis what tennis thing it was, because I don't follow tennis. But this reporter was blatantly trying to trap these US athletes into say telling everybody what it's like to play under the U.S. flag in the within the last year, especially in Trump's second administration. What? Nobody watches tennis. They no one cares. You know what I really want to you know what I really need in my life? When I'm watching the cooking network show and all of my shows that I like to watch, beat Bobby Flay, I need the interviewers to ask the chefs what it's like to cook in America while Trump is president. I need to know what they need what they have to say about that. This is just outrageous. All right, I really have nothing else to talk about. So it's Friday. I'm probably gonna do my last Dear Abbey for you. I say that. Who knows? Next week it might be another Dear Abbey. But we're gonna do some Deer Abbeys. I only have like 18, 17 more episodes to go. And I've got some Dear Abbeys for you here. Let me go over here and bring it up. I'm sorry, I should have been prepared. I had it ready. Um, okay, new New York Post. Go to oh, this girl, this woman here too. As soon as you pull the New York Post, this is the first headline you see. Recipe for disaster. Arizona A.G. Attorney General widely suggests residents can shoot masked ice agents under state's self-defense laws, she says, and this is her quote. I mean, if somebody comes at me wearing a mask, by the way, I'm a gun owner and I can't tell whether they're a police officer. What am I supposed to do? This lady is outrageous. Oh my gosh. Of course you know who they are. Well, for one thing, they're not gonna be coming at you at your house, lady. Alright, dear Abby, let's go to the search bar, dear Abby. I know I'm doing this in real time. Alright. Oh my gosh, this is a good one right here. Let's start with this one, dear Abby. My husband follows scantily clad women on Instagram. Is that grounds for divorce? Uh I wouldn't think so, but let's go on to the story. I mean, have you talked to him about it? I don't know. I don't I don't know if I don't know. What do you think? I think you need to work on something here. Dear Abby, I saw my husband's Instagram account, and he's following only women who show their bodies provocatively. Is that emotional cheating or is it just lust? Also, is that grounds for divorce? His looking at and lusting after women online hurts my feelings. Oh, this is image problem in Alabama. Ooh, interesting. Uh, I don't I don't think I would be I well, I know I wouldn't be happy about it, and we would have some words, and it depends on what the husband's response is is to it. Um, I don't know. I don't I don't think I would like it. And so so dear image problem, this is from Abby. What you have described is lust. Emotional cheating involves starting a relationship with someone. While there are many grounds for divorce in the state of Alabama, looking with lust at scanty clad women on Instagram is not one of them. Well, maybe many men do this and it doesn't present a threat to their marriages. Hmm. Consider it an updated version of the old Playboy calendars you might have seen hanging in garages. Well that's interesting take, dear Abby. I'm surprised. Come to think of it, there was once a playgirl magazine containing centerfolds with photos of gorgeous, scantily clad men. I'm sure a friend told me about them. Ha ha ha ha. Well, I'm surprised at dear Abby's answer. That makes sense to me. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what to think about that. I honestly don't know. Alright, I need to go in and get my coffee and then go on to work. I'll be right back at you. Hang on. And I'm back and I'm in my work parking lot. Alright, next, dear Abby. Oh, oh, oh, this I saw this one the other day and I thought this is interesting. Dear Abby, I saw a woman brush her teeth at a table in a high-end restaurant. Was she sitting at the table or was it in the bathroom? I don't know. We're gonna find out. My husband and I were dining with friends in a high-end restaurant. The food was great, and so was the conversation. My husband leaned close to me and whispered, she's brushing her teeth. I glanced to my left. I had thought the gal at the next table was just using a toothpick. No, she was vigorously brushing with a full size toothbrush. After about a minute, she placed the toothbrush into a cosmetic bag and pulled out a denture container. She then proceeded to insert her insert and adjust her retainer. We were flabbergasted. Never in all my years have I seen such appalling table manners. Perhaps we shouldn't have been staring, but it was one of those moments in which you're frozen on the spot. Abby, that restaurant was very has very nice bathrooms. What is happening in our society? She probably just didn't care. She obviously didn't care where she was. I don't think it didn't say she was using a full toothpaste and spitting it water out everywhere. She was just what's the difference between that and using a toothpaste? She was just brushing her teeth. That it sounds gross. It sounds gross to me. I would go to the bathroom and use water and toothpaste. Uh, but just to use a toothbrush like that, dry toothbrush of the table, that does sound disgusting. Let's see what Deer Shock says. I mean, there's nothing you could do about it now. All right. I understand why this woman's performance stopped you cold, but please don't blame society for her ignorance of the rules of etiquette, which dictate to avoid grossing out those around us in public. We should excuse ourselves from the table and take care of our oral hygiene privately in the restroom if needed. Well, there you have it. Alright, let's see. What is the next one? Oh, this is this one might be pretty good because I fall in this category probably. Dear Abby, I am worried about my retired tech addicted parents. Oh my. Okay. My young dear Abby, my young daughter and I have the pleasure of spending three months with my parents while my husband was deployed. We had a lovely visit, but over the course of our stay, I noticed my parents were spending more time on their phones than previously. Both are retired and in their mid-sixties. I can tell you what they're doing. They're playing games. That's what they're doing. They're playing Royal Kingdom or Candy Crush or whatever. That's what they're playing. I'm glad they are keeping up with technology, but I'm also concerned that their phone use may have negative impact on their social health, behavior, health, and mental acuity as they age. Growing up, we never had the TV or computers in our main living space, and screen time was limited. We ate dinner together every night and socialized and conver conversation wasn't was an expectation. Well that's good then, but they're retired. You no longer are, you know, you're on your own, so they can do what the hell they want. During my stay, my parents brought their phones to the dinner table and grabbed them mid-meal to answer messages or search things on the internet. Throughout the days I'd look up from what I was doing and see them glued to their screens. This new behavior is so different from the way they raised me. How can I speak to them about my concerns and encourage them to consider decreasing their phone usage? Well, how did they talk to you about it? I mean, I'm sure though when you grow up you didn't have all that. Uh just talk to them about it. That's all. Just tell them your concern. Dear notice, yes, many things have changed since the time when you were raised, but if you think the day has arrived for you to parent your parents, forget about it. It not only won't work, but it could also cause resentment because they are adults and not impressionable teenagers being educated about social interaction. I would still say something. I would. And I would want my kids to say something to me. So there you go. All right, how much time? Oh, I'm at 9 40. We need to move on to the question of the day. I think three dear Abbeys is quite enough this morning. All right, question of the day. Okay, I started this episode with about the sports reporter asking the tennis players what it was like to play tennis under the U.S. flag with Donald Trump as president. Oh my gosh. So my question to you, you know, I remember growing up and you know, Michael Jordan, all of them, we didn't care what their politics were. We probably and we obviously didn't know what they were, at least I didn't pay attention to them back then. And nowadays, uh you know everybody's politics, even movie, especially movie stars. So would someone's politics keep you from watching their movies, watching their sports? If you found out one of your favorite sports players, athletic person, was uh had TDS Trump derangement syndrome, would that keep you from watching them in a sport or a movie or whatever? It doesn't mean I don't care because I remember Nora Efron. Nora Efron, scriptwriter, movie writer, director, essayist, columnist, director, I mean, all that. And when Harry met Sally, she I think she wrote that. Uh she did not direct it, but she directed a lot of other rom-coms. I love her work, and she was a huge liberal Democrat. She was a Democrat, liberal. She obviously she she was the women's rights thing, so obviously she was um pro-abortion. I mean, she loved, I'm sure the Democrat politicians, all this stuff, but she really didn't let that bleed over into her work that I know of. Now, towards the end of her life, she did write for the Huffington Post, and so every now and then she would write something over there politically, but in her other work, her books and stuff, as far as I know, it wasn't prevalent. And I think she I I loved Nora Efron. I loved her. I was devastated when I heard that she had died several years ago. I was devastated because I loved her work. Uh, Barbara Streisand is another one. I will watch her in a movie. I think she's great. And obviously she hates Trump. But I don't care. I will watch these people in their movies because I think they're good at what they do and they entertain me. I can put their political stuff aside. Can you? That's the question of the day. I went on long enough. Thanks for uh listening.