Since ESPN and SportsCenter came about in the late 70’s, talking about sports has become news for most people. Fast forward 40 years later and you could watch sports 24/7 if you wanted to. So many people talk about sports that you can even have a preference. The downside to so many people covering and analyzing sports is the size of the lens that they are under. Everybody has something to say about how an athlete is playing, and in some cases it can really affect their game.
TV Personalities
Arguably one of the harder things to deal with as a pro athlete has to be talk shows. This is because people are paid to act ‘out of pocket’ specifically for entertainment. Do you really think that Stephen A., Max Kellerman, Skip Bayless and others are really that crazy all the time? The truth is that they aren’t, but that does not take away from the things they say about athletes. “Surprisingly, although critical social theorists of sports have had plenty to say about these and other shortcomings of contemporary sports, little of what they say touches on their specifically moral character.” (Morgan 282).
Taking it too far?
The quote above resembles exactly how pros are treated by the media. Unless they need to, they will never question or talk about a players character. The talk will be either about how great or terrible they are playing. A great example of this and how it can hurt the image of a player is Stephen A. Smith and Kwame Brown. As most sports fans have seen the clip, Smith refers to Brown as a “bonafide scrub”. He then goes on for about a minute about exactly how bad Brown is. I get that it is funny and he does get paid to do this, but don’t you think he might’ve taken it too far?
Now don’t get me wrong, Kwame Brown was not a great player and I am not defending that. However, he was nursing a hurt shoulder and ankle that both needed surgery after that season. On top of that, he was also the 1st overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. Anybody who is a lottery pick in the NBA will never be seen as a ‘scrub’ in my book. From that point forward, Brown’s image was never the same, essentially becoming a meme before those were a thing. If Stephen A. never came out and made this statement about Brown, I do not think he would be as widely regarded as a terrible player.
Too Much To Handle
Just like there are shy people in life, there are athletes who are shy as well. Just because somebody does not want to talk to the media does not make them a bad person. The media tends to think otherwise though, almost seeming more interested in getting players to talk if they won’t. In most cases, the players will eventually lighten up to the media. In some cases though, this attention drives players away from the game. An example that comes to mind is former Miami Dolphins RB, Ricky Williams.
Run (Away) Ricky Run
“The article claims that in order to cope with all the unwanted media attention Williams smoked marijuana. As a result, he failed three NFL drug tests and experienced further embarrassing press. Superstar NFLer, Ricky Williams, loved the sport, but couldn’t handle the media attention that comes with greatness. Swerlick asserts that the media negatively impacted this athlete. Ricky Williams walked out on the Miami Dolphins; lost millions of dollars; lost the respect of his teammates and fans; and still finds himself as media fodder (Swerdlick, 2005). Many disagree with this conclusion, however, as is indicated on numerous blogs. One such blog critic instead credits Williams’s early departure with his overriding desire to smoke marijuana (Sportscolumn.com, 2004).”
(Ott and Van Puymbroeck)
As seen from the research done above, the news and media was what drove Williams out of the NFL. People wanted to hear from him constantly because of how good he was, but Ricky just wanted to play. For wanting to just mind his business and play football, Ricky Williams was scrutinized and labeled as a bad person by news media. For that reason, he completely lost his love for the game of football.
Takeaways
I dont mean to bash news media, because they do a lot of great things for the sports world. Nevertheless, there is an abundance of evidence on news media trying to bring players down. Whether it is TV personalities like Stephen A. and Skip Bayless or reporters constantly looking to hear from you, it can really take a toll on the level of play we get from that athlete. Things like this even happen to the best in the league, it all depends on who can rise above the pressure.
In my next piece, I will be wrapping up this 3-part miniseries with how Social Media can affect athletic performance.