Wittenmyer & Williams is a regular point/counterpoint column from Enquirer Reds reporter Gordon Wittenmyer and sports columnist Jason Williams. This week, they discuss Reds manager Terry Francona, who once managed the Cleveland Guardians, responding to President Trump’s comments about Cleveland restoring its former nickname and the broader issue of politics and sports.

Williams: How awesome is Terry Francona? We all know he’s a great manager.  But there’s so much more to him than baseball. I gained a whole other level of respect for him last week when he answered your question regarding President Trump’s demands that the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Commanders return to their racist nicknames.

Wittenmyer: I thought the same thing in the moment. The dude shows a genuine respect for the people around him – for everybody. And I’m not sure every manager would’ve been comfortable enough in their own beliefs and compass to choose to answer that question with the honesty that Tito did. Never mind the basic decency that the answer suggested. You can start to see why he has connected so well and so personally with the players and staffers he’s been around over the years.

Williams: I hope Reds fans appreciate that about Tito.

Wittenmyer: It seemed like a lot did. But a few emailers suggested it was political and he needed to stick to baseball. Predictable, but sad.

Williams: Oh, of course, the stay-in-your-lane, stick-to-sports crowd.

Wittenmyer: I’ve never understood that. Sports crosses every cultural facet of our lives. I mean, Jackie Robinson, segregation, antitrust exemptions, Congressional hearings on steroids, labor battles, federal lawsuits over paying college athletes. And don’t get me started on the economy. The price of eggs? How about the price of beer and a hot dog at a game?

Williams: Or the fact that every time I buy something, anything, anywhere in Hamilton County, I’m helping to pay for the Reds and Bengals stadiums with the sales tax.

Wittenmyer: Yeah. And all for the privilege of paying higher ticket prices when the new or refurbished stadium opens.

Williams: Maybe the most talked about issue in the ongoing state budget debate has been a $600 million handout to the Cleveland Browns for a new stadium. How we lookin’?

Wittenmyer: Like chumps.

Williams: No independent study ever has shown that the public gets its money back on these stadiums and arenas.

Wittenmyer: I thought you were in the stick-to-sports camp.

Williams: Yes and no. I’ve covered both politics and sports long enough to know there are landmines in mixing the two but also sometimes it’s unavoidable – even though a lot of people say sports should be their escape from real-world issues.

Wittenmyer: It’s hard to avoid almost across the board. Sports have become such a major part of our cultural fabric — especially in this country — that it overlaps into every aspect of our public discourse, from basic politics to immigration to the economy to social issues. Sports touches everything in our society – and vice versa.

Williams: And in this case with the team nicknames, it’s the president who should stay in his lane.

Wittenmyer: Yeah, if we want to go back to something, let’s go back to our old tariff policies.

Williams: Don’t go there, Gordon. You’re pushing my buttons. I don’t want to get into another political debate with you. It’s best we keep those off-the-record.

Wittenmyer: Hey, all I’m talking about is the price of ash and maple from Canada. It all connects. And who knows? Maybe we should make our debates public. A lot of people might like it. One of the problems with the stick-to-sports philosophy is the idea that some people won’t like it. But as Tito said when talking about the nickname issue, you’re not going to please everybody no matter what you say.

Williams: I can assure you this after covering politics for this news organization for nearly a decade – no one wants to know your personal politics.

Wittenmyer: That’s the thing, a lot of what people think is political isn’t – or shouldn’t be. Basic human decency and respect can never be political.

Williams: Great point. It’s something I dealt with daily when I covered politics. So many things shouldn’t be political. That was always my approach in covering politics. It was more about public accountability and trying to cut through the politics — and not about blue and red.

Wittenmyer: Exactly. That’s what we try to do as journalists whether it’s in sports, politics or whatever we cover. It’s never perfect. But we should at least be able to agree on basic facts, basic decency and long settled debates.

Williams: I’m in shock. I can’t believe we’re talking about political stuff and agreeing this much. You’re spot on. No one was clamoring for going back to the old Cleveland and Washington team nicknames. And even if they were, that is an issue for those local communities and private businesses. That’s the last thing that the president in these times should be thinking about. Well, maybe the next-to-last thing. Trump probably shouldn’t be worried about what’s on a South Park cartoon episode, either.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Stick to sports? Trump injects politics with Cleveland nickname issue