Epideictic Rhetoric, Athletes, and Veterans: A National Discourse

Note: I presented this paper at the 2012 Rhetoric Society of America conference in Philadelphia.

“The country lost a great American today.” This statement from the USA Today‘s obituary of Ted Williams, who died on July 5, 2002, almost one year after September 11 and the beginning of the “War on Terror,” serves as a reminder that sports plays an integral role rhetorically in our national lives. One need to only recall the cancellation of sporting events and the debates about when and how sports, specifically baseball, should resume after the events of September 11, 2001. When baseball did return, on September 17, it presented an arena for national identity during a time of crisis. Baseball has always had a strong connection to democracy and national identity. Connie Mack called it “democracy in action,” and Tom Brokaw sad, “Baseball has an enduring connection to the idea of America because it really is an extension of democracy.” George W. Bush, when welcoming the 2004 Boston Red Sox to the White House after their first World Series win in 86 years, pointed out the democracy apparent in baseball when he said, “This is a heck of a team. This is a team that came together from South Korea and the Dominican Republic, from Anchorage, Alaska, Fort Riley, Kansas, and incredibly enough, Midland, Texas.”