Our burgeoning mix of politics and sports is just ... delicious. Mostly because it annoys the bejesus out of the "stick to sports" and "shut up and dribble" crowd, who choose not to acknowledge current events because they're just too inconvenient, too hard and don't apply to them in the first place.

All of which makes what NBA players accomplished last week so important to what may happen in November. No dipping my toe in the water here. Going in via cannonball: I believe the NBA will be significantly responsible for Joe Biden's victory.

Shall we discuss?

Protests and postponed games in the wake of Jacob Blake's shooting in Wisconsin prompted NBA players to negotiate their way back to the court. One of their asks: Use NBA arenas as polling places for the upcoming election.

"In every city where the league franchise owns and controls the arena property, team governors will continue to work with local elections officials to convert the facility into a voting location for the 2020 general election to allow for a safe in-person voting option for communities vulnerable to COVID," the NBA statement read.

"If a deadline has passed, team governors will work with local elections officials to find another election-related use for the facility, including but not limited to voter registration and ballot receiving boards."

Three key cities whose arenas will be used: Milwaukee, Detroit and Charlotte. Here's why: Generally speaking, dwellers of big cities vote blue. If more people from big cities come out to vote — especially in Electoral College swing states Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina — Biden's chances of winning increase.

President No. 45, remember, won Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina in 2016. No. 45 won Michigan by roughly 10,000 votes Wisconsin by about 20,000 and North Carolina by 170,000.

The NBA players, who have turned activism from rhetoric into practicality, not only just made it easier for inhabitants of Milwaukee, Detroit and Charlotte to vote, but turned it into a cooler, safer experience.

Imagine: A person in Milwaukee gets to stand on the same arena floor as Giannis Antetokounmpo dunks all the time. An arena floor is safe, adheres to social distancing and enhances the experience. I'm thinking that more voters from Milwaukee will greatly intensify Biden's chances in Wisconsin. Same in Detroit and Charlotte and their respective states.

NBA players — as well as most other Americans — realize that the Black vote may be the most significant factor in the upcoming election. Eugene Robinson recently wrote in the Washington Post that in 2008 and 2012, the Black vote was 65 and 67 percent, helping President Obama. In 2016, the Black vote lessened to 60 percent, killing Hilary Clinton. If the Black vote is there this year, Biden wins. Maybe by two touchdowns.

The NBA has turned "shut up and dribble" into "shut up and vote." And that's really the only way things change. Or begin to.

It's why the "shut up and dribble" crowd is so amusing. They're prone to dismiss the NBA now — does anybody watch it anymore? — because they're afraid that NBA players are becoming real agents and catalysts for change. It scares them. It's one thing to trumpet a slogan on a jersey. It's entirely another to actually do something productive — in this case make voting easier for the voiceless.

No. 45 made it a point to mock the NBA recently for lower ratings. His sycophants are in lockstep. Stick to sports! I'm not reading you anymore! I will cancel my subscription! Completely infantile. Hope they're all not obtuse enough to think that people aren't watching the NBA, by the way. People are watching in ways they never have before.

I'm grateful to the NBA and its players for continuing to make the shut-up-and-dribbles uncomfortable. They need to be uncomfortable.

"Discomfort is the great deterrent of our generation," author/genius Brene Brown writes in "Braving The Wilderness."

"Protecting the status quo against our internal convictions is obviously a luxury of the privileged because the underdogs and outliers have been marginalized and have no choice but to experience the daily wilderness."

NBA players are taking the underdogs and outliers from the wilderness back to the city. To vote. Activism at its finest.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro