Everyone has always said politics is a big part of sports, and I have always agreed, but up until the Iowa State-Kansas game on Sunday I never experienced it on a personal level.

The first instance was when the media-relations people bumped the two seats normally reserved for the two sports editors of the Daily.

However, since other publications like the Kansas City Star were in attendance, the head editor and I were bumped to the top corner of the parquet area with no table and no statistics the whole game. There was just a row of chairs behind a concrete wall.

So much for supporting the local media. When the rival team’s city paper comes to town and needs a seat, just screw the student paper and give up its seats.

The second thing that provided evidence of politics, was the refereeing of the basketball game itself. The officials who were calling the game were blatantly unfair.

The referees tediously wore down the Cyclones with terrible foul calls and a lack thereof on the Kansas side.

The officials were all over ISU, but when it came time to make call on the Jayhawks they stuck their heads in the sand, or according to some people, the referees had their heads in a less comfortable place. Wherever their heads, it was a clear sign that along with the No. 1 ranking comes the help of the officials.

The third example is the most bothersome to me because it deals with the racial issue that is ever- present in politics and sports.

As most avid sports fans, I am a huge fan of ESPN’s Sports Center. For those who do not know, Sports Center is a news formatted sports update show that comes on ESPN multiple times daily.

With the recent issue of Ebonics sweeping the nation, and the ever- present need for racial equality not only in the world of sports and media, but throughout society in general, ESPN decided to try to kill two birds with one stone.

They hired Stuart Scott as a sportscaster. The interesting thing about Stuart is not the fact that he is a black man, but that he uses Ebonics slang phrases and rap lyrics in all of his sportscasting.

Whether it’s Jerome Kersey “breaking them off a little sumpin’ proper” while he drives through the lane, or Mario Lemieux getting “‘his swerve on” as he scores on a power play, or the reciting of every single lyric the Fugees have ever put out, the message being sent out is that black people talk in Ebonics.

This would be a beneficial element of the show if the black sportscaster was not the only one to speak that way, or even if he wasn’t the only black person on the show.

Talk about stereotyping! I understand the need to reach out to a diverse crowd, but this is almost insulting.

All of my friends, both black and white, agree that it is ridiculous, so this is not just the opinion of a loud-mouth white guy who writes for the Daily.

Or maybe it is. You decide.

Brandon Belisle is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Plainfield, Illinois. He is the assistant sports editor of the Daily.