Sheriff Joe Arpaio is at it again. As a mass of media coverage flooded into Phoenix this week for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Arpaio simply had to get some coverage for himself.

Arpaio threatened to trot out convicted DUI offenders to pick up trash in front of Chase Field during what is known as “”All-Star Week.”” His groups of inmates would have included undocumented illegal immigrants and American citizens. However, Arpaio did not follow through with the plan.

Arpaio has done publicity stunts like this before around major sporting events. For Super Bowl XLII in 2008, he had chain gangs along Glendale Avenue as well.

What happened to just doing your job and occasionally spouting off something racist or polarizing? Has Sheriff Joe become so bored that he has to steal somebody else’s media coverage to create his own? As an avid baseball fan, I was sick enough to hear that there was a possible boycott of the All-Star Game due to the SB 1070 nonsense from last summer.

Now that everything has died down we still have to deal with this? Stop mixing good, old-fashioned sports with political statements. Sports, or any form of entertainment for that matter, are supposed to be an escape from the toil of everyday life. When we go to a baseball game, we want to hear the roar of the crowd or the crack of the bat, not picket sign-holding protesters. We want to see the best athletes go head-to-head in the All-Star Game, not inmates shuffling around after a windswept, discarded newspaper.

Arpaio can talk his tough talk, but he’s really no better than an attention-hungry celebrity who is famous for some unknown reason. This shameless and desperate move by Arpaio should cause flash floods of frustration.

—Storm Byrd is the Summer Wildcat perspectives editor. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.