Stick to sports, you say? Well, how about this: I’ll stick to politics by talking to Tennessee’s chief politician, and he’ll stick to sports.
Of course, as Gov. Bill Haslam said in an interview with The Tennessean, they’re hard to separate from each other these days.
“I think it’s part of life the way it’s evolved,” Haslam said. “People used to look at sports as a retreat from the real world. But the reality is, players are people. They have far more platforms than they’ve ever had before. Before, they were talking to a few print journalists and maybe some TV people. Now they all have their own Twitter accounts, their own Instagram, their own Facebook page, and players are people and they have the right to express their opinions.”
They did en masse over the weekend. President Trump provided the spark for widespread NFL demonstrations with Friday comments that “son of a b___” players who protest during the national anthem should be “fired.”
Most of the NFL’s owners publicly supported their players, including Haslam’s brother, Jimmy. He owns the Cleveland Browns with his wife, Dee, and their statement was one of the strongest in support of the rights of the players and in admonishing Trump.
“We must not let misguided, uninformed and divisive comments from the President or anyone else deter us from our efforts to unify,” the statement said in part.
“I have not had that discussion with them,” Haslam said of Jimmy and Dee and the biggest story in sports right now. “But I think you had a lot of owners who felt like, ‘We have to stand up for our players, our players are expressing their opinions, our players have been called out and even called names, and when our players are called names, we have to show that we’re a unified team here.’”
As for Haslam’s take on the protests, which included the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks both staying in their locker rooms during the anthem Sunday at Nissan Stadium, it’s less pointed.
“Besides being the governor, I’m a person too,” he said. “I’m in the middle of the same conversations everybody else is, and I tend just to be a listener in a lot of those conversations. And I think the consensus I hear around me is, players have a right to express their opinions. And fans have a right to decide whether or not they’re going to continue to go to games. It’s part of living in a free society and also an economy that’s based on capitalism, where consumers get to choose. Both of those are true.”
Haslam, 59, grew up in Knoxville, where his father – 86-year-old Jim Haslam, founder of Pilot Corporation – starred in the 1950s for legendary coach Gen. Robert Neyland. So the Vols are of primary sports passion for Haslam, but they aren’t his only interest. The former receiver, point guard and infielder at the Webb School of Knoxville talked about Butch Jones and the state of the UT program, the late Pat Summitt, CTE, the Nashville Predators run to the Stanley Cup Final, his own fledgling hockey career and more.
Q: So do you have to be more diplomatic about the Vols as governor than you would otherwise?
A: “I mean, obviously I grew up a Tennessee fan, and that will obviously always be a part of me. But as governor, we have the University of Memphis, we have ETSU, MTSU, Austin Peay on a two-game winning streak now, playing exciting football. And obviously college basketball, Memphis has an incredible college basketball tradition. So for me, it’s not like you’re going to choose one over the other. It’s part of what makes Tennessee a fun state. Go to a Memphis Tigers basketball game or go to a home game in Neyland, or ETSU resurrecting their football program, that’s all fun.”
Q: What about your own sports involvement now?
A: “I still run and ride a bicycle a lot. I take advantage of Middle Tennessee’s rolling hills, which aren’t nearly as steep as east Tennessee’s hills, to ride a bicycle a lot around here. Used to play a lot of tennis and basketball but less now that I’ve gotten older. At our house in Knoxville, we had a full court, a two-thirds size full court in our back yard, and every Sunday a group of guys would come over and play after church. Until it got to where every Sunday we were carrying somebody to their car. One day our wives showed up en masse and said, ‘Done. No more. Y’all are worthless enough around home, but when you’re on crutches you’re totally worthless.’”
Q: Your family has been involved in football for a long time (NOTE: Haslam’s son played high school football as well), but there are more parents now who are hesitant to let their kids play because of concussion concerns. What do you think about the future of the game?
A: “Obviously CTE is a concern, but you have to recognize that the game, whether it’s in high school, college or pro, is treating that subject a lot more seriously than it used to. So much so that a lot of people claim, ‘You’ve taken the fun out of it.’ The high school coaches when we used to play would say, ‘Put your helmet on his belly button.’ You don’t say that anymore, you don’t lead with your head anymore, you’re getting thrown out of the game for it. I think it’s a good thing. You shouldn’t be using your head as a weapon, and I do think it’s safer. The equipment’s better. I obviously hope it’s addressed because I do think, with all the concerns, that football is still maybe the greatest team sport there is. Both to watch and to participate. Some of my best memories growing up are from playing high school football together with these other guys that were friends. And the whole experience of playing on a team together is a great learning experience.”
Q: Meanwhile, there are other sports gaining momentum around here, there’s a push for an MLS team, do you see the sports landscape changing some in the state?
A: “I think it is. I think MLS, I’m very hopeful they’ll come to Nashville and I’m confident it will be a success. You see it in the attendance of exhibition games, there’s an excitement about MLS. Everybody was excited about what the Preds did. But I think it reflects a couple things. People are broadening out and interested in things maybe they weren’t interested in growing up, but second, Nashville is a changing town. We have a lot of people that have moved here from other places and they’ve brought love of hockey, soccer and other things.”
Q: And how about you? Do you know your hockey?
A: (laughs) “I actually played one year of pee wee hockey growing up. Not very effectively, I should add. So I know enough to understand icing and offsides. What I still haven’t figured out with hockey is how they patrol and control all of the line changes. In football it’s very clear. You’ve got 11 guys on there, sometimes you’ve got 12 and that’s a penalty. In hockey it’s hard to track.”
Q: Did you get into the Predators run?
A: “I went to seven or eight games in the playoffs and I don’t care who you are, if you went to a Predators game you walked away saying, ‘Wow, that was such an electric atmosphere.’ And I think some of that was the Preds making this fairly improbably run. They obviously weren’t really supposed to get out of the first round. I think part of it was Nashville enjoying seeing the Predators succeed and kind of getting caught up in the thrill of winning. And the final thing is, I just think the Predators are running a great organization and the whole experience was fun for everybody involved.”
Q: Back to Tennessee football, what do you think of that program, where it is and the job Butch Jones is doing?
A: “Well, Tennessee football has unparalleled tradition, facilities and program infrastructure. As somebody who grew up caring about Tennessee football, you always want to make certain that we’re a competitive, top-ranked team. It’s also important to that part of the state economically. I used to be the mayor of Knoxville, you could track tax receipts for good seasons, and when the Vols did well people spent more money on hotels, more money in restaurants, they’d buy more merchandise, etc. It’s important to that part of the state and the state as a whole. I’m like everybody else, I enjoy it when Tennessee is having a season where we’re a top-ranked team, and I think most people feel that’s where Tennessee should be. As governor, it’s not my role to comment on anything beyond that, except to say … I think coach Jones is working hard to build the right kind of program. Where players graduate, where players are great citizens off the field, and that they also win on the field. And I think there’s probably nobody more frustrated with the last two weeks than coach Jones. And I know that he understands how important it is that Tennessee be a top-ranked program.”
Q: Is that the one team that you aren’t missing a second of it? Like, the game will be on your phone or you’ll be getting updates no matter what is going on with your job?
A: “Yeah, I mean, it depends on where I am. We probably go to more Tennessee football games just because that’s where my home is, and my kids and grandkids live in Knoxville. But I’m like everybody else, I was following the Preds. The Titans I think are having and are going to have a great season, I have a lot of confidence in the organization they’ve put together there. I think the Titans are on track to be really good for a long time.”
Q: I’m glad you brought up the Titans, because the Titans and Browns play this season. They played last season. Who do you root for when they play?
A: “The last couple times they’ve played, I’ve stayed home and kept the grandchildren. That seems like the safest thing to do.”
Q: In the span of a few months in 2016, Pat Summitt and Ed Temple passed away, which I think reminded people that this state witnessed two of the most important coaching jobs in sports history.
A: “Yeah and if you want to keep going, football-wise, you’ve got to put Gen. Neyland at the top of influential coaches of all time. So in terms of women’s basketball, college football and track and field, three of the most influential coaches of all time, all from within a 200-mile area. That’s pretty impressive. And they were all ground-breaking in their own way.”
Q: What sticks with you about Pat Summitt?
A: “The thing about Pat is, most people who are Type A, intense, competitive people tend to be not very good relationally. But Pat was incredible relationally, not just with her players but with the community in Knoxville. With fellow coaches. With people she went to high school with. I remember being at an event with her, she was getting an award in Nashville and she asked me to come introduce her. And there was a whole table full of people who had played high school basketball with her. And they were still friends. I went to Pat’s funeral, they had kind of a small service in Henrietta, where she’s from, outside of Clarksville, and they had a bigger deal at Thompson-Boling in Knoxville. But her niece got up and talked, and her niece talked about, her family called her Trish. Aunt Trish, coming by to pick her up to take her out to get ice cream, and to do things that you hope as an aunt and uncle you would do in normal life. And here’s Pat Summitt being an aunt like most of us would aspire to be. It just spoke volumes about her. I love the idea that you can be competitive and be incredibly successful, and not give up relationships.”
