I think it is hard to say if people care about sports or politics more than the other. I think if you did a random survey and asked people what they cared more about they would say politics, but if you followed that up with some sort of political question, more than likely very few would know the answer. I think people are more interested in sports, but don't necessarily care about them more. Most people realize that politics have a much large impact on our lives than sports do, yet if you walked up to people and ask who the Iowa football coach, I bet 90% could say Ferentz, but if you asked who their congressman was, I think an almost embarrassingly small amount of people would know that it was Loebsack.
That said, we see all kinds of examples of politcs in sports and how they are kind of meshed together sometimes. The steriod issue in baseball is a perfect example. In this instance I think it kind of 'dumbs down' what the meaing of politics are; in the sports world I would just say that it is argueing for one side or another.