Style in Sports: Don't fly too close to the sun.

'Don't fly too close to the sun' is an idiom from the Greek myth of Icarus that coveys a warning. Don't be too ambitious; don't be too confident. And this corresponds with athletes who express themselves with fashion. Let me explain...

Having a personality in sports can be detrimental to an extent, and it just isn't fair. Granted, life isn't, but there's a much more sinister undertone in which distaste for simply being yourself is shown by the media and so-called 'fans' alike. Fashion is often seen as a representative of an athlete's personality because it can speak when words can't, but the idea of who they are can be misconstrued. Take Paul Pogba for an example: a midfield maestro who wears bold colours and uses his hair as a canvas. Mohicans, red and blue streaks, leopard prints and stars have all seen his scalp. Cool, right? Wrong. During his tenure at Manchester United, the British media portrayed him as someone who would rather invest his time into fashion rather than football, as if the two are mutually exclusive. Apparently, if you dye your hair, you don't care about your profession. You're branded as arrogant and you need to be humbled. There needs to be an understanding that athletes are also human, and they should be allowed to express themselves. The media want them to be boxed in, and if they venture further than what they allow, the character assassination comes in full force.

There's a trend in which type of athletes get portrayed this way. And without saying exactly what it is, I'll name a few others and let you piece it together. Lewis Hamilton; Angel Reese; Naomi Osaka; Sha'Carri Richardson; Jules Kounde. Do you recognise the pattern? The general sports media don't care for expression from these kind of athletes. To them, it's play and shut up. And if you step outside the box, your head is elsewhere. Micro-aggression, or macro? The bigger the athlete, the bigger the scale.

Mario Balotelli, Lewis Hamilton, Joules Kounde, Naomi Osaka, Paul Pogba, Angel Reese, Sha'Carri Richardson