Copyright Staten Island Advance
Remember when television hosts used to beg for sports and politics to stay apart? These days, it seems the marriage between the two is inevitable The latest example came on Sunday, when former ESPN host Samantha Ponder took to social media to express her frustration over policies allowing transgender athletes to compete. “It’s happened many times now living in NYC,” Ponder began in a lengthy X/Twitter thread. “Yet another basketball game today where my middle school daughter is guarding an obviously naturally born boy in a girls’ tournament. The parents cheer while the boy is physical and dominant against the girls. The all-girls team loses. “We’ve taught our kids to never make fun of the kid … to always be kind and loving. That the parents are the problem. That no kid is born in the wrong body. But if I’m honest, watching my daughter get posted up by a boy whose parents have deceived him in this way is maddening. “To everyone saying ‘just move!’ I understand the sentiment but (in my honest opinion) NYC is the greatest American city that has lost its way. I want to fight for truth and love. I don’t want to give in to insanity and darkness. This is still America.” Ponder, wife of former NFL quarterback Chris Ponder, was once the host of “Sunday NFL Countdown.” She was let go from ESPN last August 2024 during a major company shakeup that included Robert Griffin III. Transgender athletes in sports have become a prominent culture-war issue for President Donald Trump and his base, which includes former Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who is running in Texas’s 21st Congressional District. On Saturday, Teixeira quote-tweeted Lara Trump, wife of President Trump’s son, Eric, who was criticizing the nationwide “No Kings” protest that had taken place earlier in the day.
