For those who did not watch “ESPN First Take” this morning, the show went from the traditional list of topics to debate to a single topic that took up the whole 2 hour show in the most real interaction I have ever seen between analysts, athletes and fans. The topic of the day was whether or not the media crosses a line when they talk about athletes in a negative way. This topic and the ensuing debate between Jalen Rose, Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith and Cris Carter shook the Twitter world and the relationships between reporter and athlete. Good points were made by all three reporters, one saying that it is disrespectful to comment negatively on an athlete because it affects the family just as much as it affects the player, another says that there is a line that should not be crossed but negative comments about a player is a reflection of that player at a specific time and, on occasion, a reflection of their character as well but nobody could find common ground on a single branch of the topic tree.
As I sat on my couch and watched the debate, I found myself thinking about my own points to bring to the table, which inspired me to write this blog because as much as I admire the intelligence of the reporters who debated this long and hard I think they missed some things that could have strengthened their position on the subject.
First of all, I disagree with what Jalen said about being disrespectful to a player by giving them a nickname or calling them out on their performance. When an athlete decides to place himself or herself in the spotlight by attending a prestigious college or becoming a professional, they have inevitably opened the door to being examined by the media and by the fans. If an athlete decides to hide his head in a towel after a poor performance, fight with a coach during a game or not include him or herself in a huddle, they are disrespecting themselves and their team and ultimately allowing reporters and fans to discuss their character and come up with a negative conclusion.
In other words, when one decides to become a member of an elite team, college or otherwise, you are becoming a member of that brand and being disrespectful to that brand means your being disrespectful to yourself so why should journalists or fans not give our opinion, albeit negative, about you? You chose to behave in a specific way and you are aware that the cameras are on you when you behave that way.
I do agree with Jalen that the negative comments about an athlete affect not just the athlete but their families as well. But I also think that athletes disrespect their families by behaving in a negative manner. What I don’t think Jalen understands is that fans and journalists alike are reacting to an athletes performance from the night before or a recurrence of a negative act. Case in point, the Dwight Howard situation. Now I do not know all of the facts so I am just going to respond to what I have seen, read and heard from professionals. It is obvious that Dwight and Stan Van Gundy do not get along but both are a part of the Magic franchise for now and therefore should at least try to work together. When Dwight sits out of a huddle or crashes Van Gundy’s press conference, he is being disrespectful to his coach and his brand. Many journalists and former athletes agree that his attitude is not conducive to a successful team and according to Jalen’s point, if we think that Dwight is being rude, unprofessional and acting like a baby we are hurting his family by saying such things but since it is Dwight that is in fact behaving this way, isn’t he hurting his family by acting like this and we are simply giving our opinion about him? What I am trying to say is if you don’t want your family to be hurt don’t act in a way that would hurt your family.
Journalists can’t help but discuss what they see and develop an opinion from it. If Skip Bayless says Tony Romo is acting like “Tony Romeo” it is because during Romo’s relationship with Jessica Simpson his character reflected his interest in being in a relationship more than his interest in being a professional athlete and I think his trip to Cabo during his week off before the playoffs is a perfect example of that reflection, what else could a journalist or fan conclude from that? If Romo thought Skip’s nickname was offensive or the following comments and reports about his vacation were unfair, he should have thought about that beforehand. I mean come on; just because you have the week off doesn’t mean you should go on vacation with your girlfriend. If anything that week should have been spent preparing for the playoff game next week and I bet every Cowboys fan agrees.
Now, I do think that un-prepared negative comments are unnecessary. For example, Jay Cutler’s knee injury during the NFC Championship game two years ago. For reporters to question whether or not he was faking the injury was unfair and hurtful because they have no facts to prove he was. Just because he walked up a flight of stairs the next day doesn’t mean anything. Without medical proof that Cutler was faking, journalists had NO right to assume Cutler faked the injury and then question his toughness especially after he endured 52 sacks that year and a concussion that he played through after he sustained it in the Giants game.
I find it interesting that this debate occurred during a year where a lot of athlete’s performances have been put under a microscope. I think athletes deserve to get called out for their performance. In fact, I guarantee that if an athlete doesn’t get talked about, they’d be upset because they aren’t in the spotlight. If they want to be defensive and come on “ESPN”, I bet it’s for the attention and if they really have a problem with what journalists are saying, shut up and prove them wrong. If you want respect from the media then they should be respectful also, not just to their brand but to the journalists as well because journalists are just doing their job and being disrespectful to them is just giving them more reason to assume that your character is flawed and their original point was correct.
The debate was more about reporters and athletes but I think that it could be stretched farther to include fans of the game. Our voices may only be heard by a smaller group of people, mainly family and friends but we still have opinions both positive and negative about a player, a team, a coach and a reporter.
What I admire about journalists like Skip and Stephen A. Smith is that they honestly don’t care what people think about them and it’s that very reason that allows them to continue to do their job the way they do.
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