¡VIVA RIVAS!

As you've probably all heard by now, tonight's Cardinals starter, Jeff Suppan, joined several athletes and actors in taping an ad opposing stem cell research. The group producing the ad even bought ad time during Suppan's scheduled start on Wednesday night.

This is the first time I can remember seeing so many athletes get behind a political issue at once. While we've grown used to seeing actors and musicians get behind political issues, from bashing Bush (Babs, Dixie Chicks) to saving poor African children (Madonna...ok, not really a political issue), it's still fairly unusual to see athletes jump into politics, at least while they're still playing. That's a good thing. Most fans (including Luis Rivas fans) want to get away from real-world issues like politics when they turn on the tube to watch their favorite team.

Sports serve as a great unifier, like when U2 fans who don't really care whether or not Bono is against free trade because he rocks so hard. Sporting events are a time when hardcore Democrats and Republicans can get behind their favorite team and cheer as one for once in their lives. Hell, they might even high five, or gulp, hug -- if the game is big enough. To have players take such public stands on controversial issues only takes away from these rare moments of unity. Thankfully, the Fox production crew didn't make a big deal of the issue. In fact (correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think it was even mentioned during tonight's broadcast.

The Suppan video:

In case you're curious, here's the Michael J Fox video from the same political race that prompted the previous ad and was the source of Rush Limbaugh's ridiculously ignorant remarks: