Stick to sports.

Go to the game, sit in your cushy pressbox seat and eat your free hot dog, Sparky. Leave the important stuff to the pros.

That’s how it’s always been, at least until now. The era of “stick to sports’’ is over, says a writer for the mostly-sports, sometimes-politics-and-culture website The Ringer.  “It’s no longer a surprise when you know a sportswriter’s politics. It’s a surprise when you don’t,’’ posits The Ringer.

Maybe. I don’t blast my politics out over the pages, printed or virtual, or use my platform to change people’s political thinking. I could spend the rest of my life not writing a political word and be OK. That’s not what bugs me. This is what bugs me:

The stick-to-sportsters who believe that being a card-carrying member of the Toy Department disqualifies me from having a brain in my head.

“I’m just going to go over here and get me a plate of free nachos before I resume worrying about Billy Hamilton’s on-base percentage. Been keeping me up nights.’’         

The election of Donald Trump has been a game-changer, The Ringer says. That and the proliferation of social media, where everyone is a columnist. Even if what they write often belongs on a bathroom wall. Meantime, some ancient code forbids sportswriters from expressing real-world opinions.

How do you feel about that? I ask because I don’t know how I feel about that.

When I go to a Springsteen concert, I don’t want to hear The Boss’ take on police brutality, unless he’s singing about it. Was there anyone – anyone – who heard Madonna and Ashley Judd at the march in Washington who wanted them to continue? Or did you say, “Please go find a bad movie to live in?’’

I never wondered what Nelson Mandela thought of the designated hitter.

But today isn’t yesterday. Go-along to get-along is not the rule. When Colin Kaepernick happens, that’s sports only because he’s a football player. When Trump rolls out his immigration plan, should a Latino sports writer stick to sports? Or does he have a greater obligation?

Used to be, the sports page was a sanctuary. You went there to escape. It was vacation on a page. Maybe you still feel that way. Maybe I should respect that by sticking to sports.

Uh, Doc, stop navel-gazing and write a damned sports column.

The vast, vast majority of what I write is apolitical. I’m no expert in politics, nor do I relish the blowback when I stray from fun and games. When I wrote that some of what makes this country great is Kaepernick’s free choice to sit for the Anthem – and I applauded him for it – I got hate feedback for a week.

It’s not about hits or page views. I’m not a troll. If I wanted clicks, I’d simply write something remotely critical of Joey Votto several times a week.

It’s about passion. I’m nothing without passion. The “stick to sports’’ line implies I’m not swift enough to comprehend something as complex as politics. There’s Doc in his Reds cap at 3 a.m., melting down over Bryan Price’s bullpen decisions.

The nuts and bolts of sports have never grabbed me. I don’t care about that. I suffer it because you care about it. Who and Why are always more important than What. That’s truer than ever.

At the moment, it’s very hard to stay neutral about what’s happening in our country. And as much as I dislike being bashed (and, oh no, losing Twitter followers) it seems a little silly to hang out with the toys full time.

For example, I dislike the views of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s nominee for Education secretary. I have a special-needs daughter. DeVos showed in her confirmation hearing she knew nothing about special-education law.

DeVos didn’t attend public school, she has never worked in a public school, her background in education is limited to lobbing millions and millions of dollars at pet education causes such as charter schools and the Republicans who support them.

I suggested on my daily blog, The Morning Line, that DeVos’ vast wealth had created a distance between her and the realities faced by most of the rest of us. Hoo-boy. Stick to sports, Doc.

If someone in another line of work takes part in a march or campaigns for a candidate, is he or she sticking to his line of work? I don’t think advocating for a person or a program compromises my ability to write about the Bengals, you know?

I can stick to sports or I can occasionally stray. Your thoughts.