It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYC. I'm Bridget Bergen filling in for Brian today. It's a big weekend for sports fans with Super Bowl Sunday and the Winter Olympics officially beginning today in Milan.

But the vibes in this country and around the world are a bit off this year. The headline in

Politico yesterday sums it up pretty well. Trump's geopolitical tensions spill into the Winter

Olympics. Beating the Americans will feel even sweeter for the U.S. top allies.

In the not too distant past, athletes were some of the loudest voices in politics.

Take LeBron James calling Donald Trump a bum in a 2017 tweet, or Colin Kaepernick's bent knee in the 2016 NFL season.

But it seems like athletes are more cautious this time around for better or worse.

Maybe it's for the best.

Let our athletes focus on their own job and allow fans to tune out of politics for a bit when sitting down to watch the game.

But maybe tuning out of politics is dangerous at this moment in our

country's history. So what do we expect of our athletes to say now? That's the question staff

writer Louisa Thomas poses in her latest column of the sporting scene for the New Yorker.

She joins us now to talk about it. Hey, Louisa, welcome to WNYC. Thanks for having me.

And listeners, I'll pose the question to you right away.

What do you want athletes to say during this political moment on our nation's history?

Do you want them to say nothing at all?

Were you ever impacted by the activism of an athlete?

Do you see sports as political or as an escape from reality? You can call or

text us at 212-433 W-N-YC. That's 212-433-9692. And Louisa, your piece starts with a look at last

Sunday's basketball game between the Minnesota Timberwolks and the

timber wolves and the Golden State Warriors. The Timberwolves had just lost 111 to 85,

and the team's young star Anthony Edwards spoke to the press about the bad vibes.

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