ESPN personality Mike Greenberg went on a tirade Monday about the differences between debating sports and debating politics and criticized the discourse surrounding the latter.
Greenberg said on his radio show that political debate becomes toxic as people always go for the jugular instead of having a nuanced conversation.
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ESPN anchor Mike Greenberg before the Eastern Conference Finals game between the Heat and the Boston Celtics at FTX Arena in Miami, Florida on May 17, 2022. (Jasen Vinlove-USA Today Sports)
«The best thing about sports talk is that it ascends to debate. And I use that word deliberately. It doesn’t descend,» the radio host said, via Awful Announcer. «Our political discourse in this country in this day and age sucks. It’s horrible. It descends to the lowest common denominator all the time. It descends into evil. It descends into people calling each other names and drifting apart and further apart instead of having an intellectual conversation real».
Greenberg is the co-author of a book called «Got Your Number,» which ranks the greatest athletes of all time by jersey number. He used that as an example in taking him.
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Tom Brady of the New England Patriots greets Eli Manning of the New York Giants after a preseason game at Gillette Stadium on August 29, 2019 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
He added that the sports debate «increases» the quality of the conversation; however, if you call Eli Manning a Hall of Famer for his two Super Bowl wins over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, everyone loses their minds.
«The sports debate unites us because someone might feel like we got it right with (Roberto) Clemente, and someone might have thought we were wrong and it should have been Deion (Sanders),» Greenberg said, speaking of the top athletes who wore No. 21. .
Mike Greenberg speaks onstage during the 2018 Radio Hall Of Fame induction ceremony on November 15, 2018 in New York City. (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for the Radio Hall of Fame)
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«And someone else might have thought it was Tim Duncan. But neither of us thought the other person was a bad human being for thinking that. So, the debate goes up, not down, the quality of the conversation.»