2016: The Year in White Privilege

Given that white nationalists are empowered by Trump's election to the White House, a recap of enraging events that showed that this sector just couldn't handle one term of a black man in the Oval Office, let alone two.

Spring

• Harper published an admission by a Nixon aide that the "war on drugs" was, in fact, racially motivated
• Speaking of drugs, black people are being shut out from selling legal marijuana in Colorado due to drug war era laws
• There was a lot of outrage from white America over Harambe the Gorilla in Cincinnati at the end of 2015 but practically none a few months later when an alligator killed a two year old at a Disney resort
• The Stanford rapist aka Brock Turner's laughable sentence. His dad yapping about Turner's "20 minutes of action" was beyond reprehensible. There's also the possibility that Judge Aaron Persky may have cited "political correctness" in sentencing Turner to six months

Summer

• Gabby Douglas got blasted for not placing her hand over her hart when the national anthem was played for the women's gymnastics team while two men's shot putters who also failed to place their hands over their hearts after one of them won received no reaction from the same people who ripped the gymnast 
• The idiotic blogger who denounced swimmer Simone Manuel for making truthful comments
• Ryan Lochte essentially got rewarded for his bad behavior by getting that Dancing with the Stars slot
• This sicko in Iowa

Fall

• The whole DAPL-Standing Rock drama 
• Members of the tribe were treated harshly on the same day an Oregon court acquitted members of a militia who illegally occupied land further west

The only good thing that happened was the fact that the Supreme Court didn't allow a mediocre student to dismantle affirmative action in late June.

ADDED 1/7/17: Let's not also forget the heroin epidemic. When it hit black neighborhoods in the '70s, the response was "lock 'em up"but now, when white neighborhoods suffered the same fate in recent years, everybody talked about treatment and needle exchanges.

Secession Olympics

Political and cultural schisms seem to be the rage. Belgium set a record for political instability when it couldn't form a government for 536 days between 2010 and 2011 due to rifts between French-speaking Wallonia and Flemish-speaking Flanders. Closer to home, Quebec may or may not hold yet another secession referendum over the next 5-10 years. And there's America with its blue states vs. red states narrative. Given that Scotland is set to vote on secession from the United Kingdom next Thursday, I'll take a look at how these secession movements could affect sports.

U.S.

Here in this country, the rift between so-called blue and red states has widened. If tensions make unity impossible, then the following will happen:

• American dominance in the Summer Olympics would come to an end as China would take over. Meanwhile, the Blue and Red Zones could spend more time trying to one up each other and rooting against their ideological opposites
• Based on how many conservatives railed against the World Cup 2-3 months ago amid the possibility of the United States embracing soccer on a wider scale, the Red Zone would not field a competitive men's team on the worldwide scale and would only play a spoiler role in terms of World Cup qualifying, but, it would field a very viable women's team due to the strength of certain colleges. The Blue Zone would field very competitive men's and women's teams and the latter would create quite the rivalry for the Women's World Cup
• The NBA, NFL, and MLB could either split up into separate Red and Blue Zone Leagues or remain as is
• The NCAA would remain in the Red Zone, creating a mess for all of the colleges who field major sports teams. Bowl games and the NCAA basketball tournament could get very dicey every December and March

 

UK

The nation has for decades fielded four separate national teams for non-Olympic competition. When it comes to the Olympics, Scottish secession could be quite big. When the Summer Olympics were in London two years ago, Scotland claimed 13 of Britain's 65 total medals (20%). Earlier this year in Sochi, the Scots won half of Great Britain's four medals. Speaking of the Winter Games, all of the curlers hail from Scotland, so future British teams may not even qualify for the Olympics.

The Open Championship would no longer have the fabled St. Andrews golf course

Canada

The Great White North has its own problems with secession brewing. An independent Quebec could quite possibly spell the end of Canada because Ontario isn't connected to any of the Atlantic provinces. Out west, some or all four of the provinces could either form their own independent nation, remain with the other English-speaking provinces and territories, or join the U.S. The Atlantic provinces would most likely have to join the U.S. since they'd be too small to make it on their own.

The dissolution of Canada would mean the following for its sports:

• All of the federal government's efforts to make Canada more competitive in international sports would evaporate overnight
• The tension between Quebec and what's left of English-speaking Canada would run deep in the Winter Olympics--especially in hockey and curling
• Speaking of hockey, the NHL would basically become an American league or splinter off into separate American, Quebec, and Canadian leagues. There would be multiple new leagues depending on how deep the split is following Quebec's departure from the Dominion. The hockey leagues would be so distinct that the Stanley Cup may revert back to its original position of a competition between the champions from each league
• There's a chance that an English-only Canada could still field a competitive soccer teams on both the men's and women's sides, but if the English provinces and territories are too splintered, there's no chance on the men's side. Quebec wouldn't field a competitive team at all

Continental Europe

Spain's government is threating to block a referendum Catalonians are holding November 9. The secession effort is a threat to the Spanish state because if there's an independent Catalonia, then the Basques will be next ones to ask for independence. Barcelona--currently Spain's largest city--is in Catalonia. The breakup would be a potentially devastating blow not only to the Spanish state but also to soccer as La Liga would lose two of its money making teams.

The breakups of Spain and Belgium could result in more soccer leagues and Olympic teams because other nations could then follow. This map on Europe is a mark of what the most radical secessions could do.

Thoughts on 2022 World Cup snub

Maybe it was a good thing that the 2022 World Cup didn't go to the U.S. Given that an already poisonous political climate could become nuclear, maybe it made sense to not give a major international event to a country that could be forced to withdraw from due to an ideological civil war. This really applies to the 2018-22 Olympic Games if America wins bidding for any of those events. It's been said that sports can bring a country together, but the reverse could also be true--arguing about political issues also have the potential to further tear a nation apart. A possible hint of the latter scenario took place last year as conservatives openly cheered Chicago's elimination on the first ballot of the 2016 Summer Olympics bidding.