Sam Acho: NFL locker rooms model civil discourse better than political arena

Sam Acho sat down recently to talk about something that might seem obvious but has become surprisingly hard to find: the ability to disagree without destroying the relationship. The former NFL linebacker, now an ESPN analyst, had just attended the Ronald Reagan Foundation Center on Civility & Democracy's inaugural forum, where he'd been thinking about what professional football locker rooms actually get right that the rest of the country seems to be getting wrong.

"Civil discourse can include disagreement," Acho explained. "You don't always have to be on the same page." He offered a simple football analogy: some teams run a 3-4 defense, others prefer a 4-3. Some coaches blitz aggressively to reach the quarterback; others trust coverage schemes. The defensive philosophy matters less than the shared objective—winning the game. In politics and governance, he suggested, the same principle should apply. Leaders may disagree about which laws or approaches work best, but the underlying goal should be identical: making the country better. The disagreement becomes civil when both sides remember they're working toward the same end.

In his own experience in NFL locker rooms, Acho said, conversations ranged widely and freely. Players debated whether track athletes or golfers had it harder. They discussed politics directly. They argued about presidential statements and gubernatorial initiatives. When Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem, the locker room didn't shy away from that conversation either. The debates could get heated. Sometimes people crossed lines. But the structure of the team—the fact that these men had to see each other at practice in fifteen minutes, in meetings two hours later, at lunch the next day—created natural accountability. When someone went too far, they apologized or made it right. When they lost an argument, they shook hands and moved forward. There was no option to simply walk away.

Acho believes athletes occupy a unique position in American life. They have platforms. They have visibility. And beyond their physical abilities, they possess intellectual capital that most people never develop or deploy. "Athletes should know they are more than one dimension of a human being," he said. This applies equally to politicians: a governor or senator is more than their title, more than their vote count. The question each person should ask themselves is not how to accumulate more power, but who they are becoming in the process of wielding it.

The responsibility extends to sports media figures, many of whom are former athletes themselves. They've traded their physical capital for intellectual platforms. Pat McAfee, Acho noted, has built an enormous audience on ESPN. These figures have influence. People listen. People may disagree, but they listen. The stewardship of that platform matters enormously. It's not about gathering followers or maximizing reach for its own sake. It's about recognizing that your voice carries weight and using it accordingly.

Poor stewardship looks like this: During a Texas-Georgia game, a controversial call went against the home team in the late third quarter. Texas fans, upset, began throwing cans and bottles onto the field to delay play and force officials to review the decision. The referees did reverse the call. Texas still lost the game anyway. Acho's point wasn't about the call itself—it was wrong, and he said so directly. His point was that a broadcaster or media figure who simply excused the fan behavior because it happened at their team's stadium, or who celebrated it because it momentarily went their way, would be abdicating responsibility. "What did you actually win?" he asked. If you achieve something through conduct you know is wrong, what have you really accomplished? The answer, he suggested, is nothing worth having. Civil discourse—in sports, in media, in politics—requires the willingness to say the hard thing even when silence would be easier, even when speaking up might cost you.