For decades we’ve been told that sports and politics just don’t mix.

That rarely should the twain ever meet, especially when thoughts on the subject come from the mouths of prominent pro athletes.

We have been reminded of that lame, threadbare line of reasoning again in exchanges between Fox TV host Laura Ingraham and LeBron James in the wake of the pointed discourse surrounding the senseless death of George Floyd. That’s where her “…So, keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, ‘shut up and dribble,’” lecture to James and others in 2018 still echoes.

Of course, that “someone” was Ingraham. In her 2003 book, “Shut Up &Sing,” Ingraham took exception to entertainers using their fame as a platform for discussion of issues beyond their particular field of endeavor.

We should be well past that level of thinking but, then, we should have long ago moved beyond the conditions that led to Floyd’s death, too.

For too many years the prevailing mind-set in many quarters was that athletes should be seen, as in performing wondrous feats in competition, but not heard from. Unless, of course, it was talking about the upcoming game or selling shoes or sports drinks.

The charge was to be entertaining, by all means, because that’s what we buy tickets or tune in for. Sign autographs and pose for selfies, please.

While demonstrations of resolve on the goal line and courage in extra innings are what is cheered, the preference has been for moral invertebrates on compelling issues of the day that confront us.

Just don’t make us think too deeply about anything beyond why you felt compelled to attempt that jump shot with so much time on the clock or took a called third strike.

And, please, nothing that might make us uncomfortable or cause us to question societal or our own conduct.

The problem with that is athletes don’t live in a bubble of their arena or stadium much as we have long sought to pigeon-hole them there. They have lives beyond the courts and fields. The are shaped by backgrounds and experiences where the real world tends to intrude. Just as it does for the plumber, mail carrier or baker.

And athletes should no more be required to check their social consciences at the locker room door than others do upon leaving their places of employment.

Sports just provides them access to a much wider audience. One that comes with heightened opportunities and liabilities, depending on how thoughtful their use of that soap box, as several have been reminded recently.

To not avail themselves of the platform, as Ingraham would decree it, would mean voices wasted, perspectives unshared, and lessons in empathy potentially unlearned.

It used to be that prominent athletes were circumspect in voicing opinions beyond the bounds of their sports, witness how Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods for so long protected their big bucks endorsement deals.

But when they feel compelled to speak out, we are better for it and for the frank and honest exchanges of dialogue and diverse opinions that come as a result.

There is both room and a need for athletes to take stands beyond the free throw and goal lines where we are used to seeing them. We often put them on pedestals. Sometimes we need them on soap boxes, too.

And, this is definitely one of those times.