Sportswriters exist in a kind of creative tension. Pulling us in one direction is the desire to draw deeper meaning from the events we cover. Pulling us in the other is the realization that sportswriting isn't social commentary.
So we tend to see the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's gold medal as a triumph of democracy over communism, or the Iraqi national soccer team's advancing to the semifinals of the 2004 Olympic Games as a metaphor for the resilience of an oppressed, war-ravaged people. Meanwhile, we also realize that athletes shouldn't be made to stand for anything beyond what they do or don't achieve as athletes, and that coaches — whether verbally abusing their players or inspiring them to greatness — don't reflect some enduring model of masculinity. Sports, in other words, are just sports.
Until they aren't.