From a reader:

Jonah,
Even back in 2003 Dionne’s argument was specious, just one look at the sports columnists in his own paper and you will find nothing but liberal writers that ever pass-up an opportunity to meld politics and sports. At the time you had Kornheiser, Wilbon, and Feinstein all doing it. Switch over to Sports Illustrated or Yahoo Sports and you have the likes of Peter King and Michael Silver who waste no chance of injecting their leftwing politics even if the does not fit the narrative of the story. The sports intelligentsia found at almost every major news outlet are no different from those hired to write about politics, foreign affairs, business, food, or even automobiles – that is unfailingly liberal.