The top Super Bowl Media Day storyline involved a guy who didn’t say anything. Then when Marshawn Lynch was forced to finally talk, he reminded us all that the world is a much better place when doesn’t utilize his “public speaking skills.”
Let’s remember that Marshawn Lynch is well paid to run past and through very large, very fast men. He is in show-business, but he is not a talk show guest; or a comedian.
Marshawn Lynch vs. the NFL is exactly like Johnny Manziel vs. adult autograph seekers vs. the NCAA vs. the people who report on adult autograph seekers. There’s no one to root for.
If the Marshawn Lynch retirement rumors are true, fine. He can go back to being a private citizen. He doesn’t want the spotlight anyway. He doesn’t selfishly demand attention. This whole minor-incident-blown-into-a-fiasco is just a symptom though.
The bigger issue is “WHY DID WE EVER CARE TO BEGIN WITH?”
Everyone talks about Marshawn Lynch’s media habits, but his quarterback and teammate Russell Wilson is the real problem. Every single thing Wilson ever says is either a shopworn cliche or just Christian zealotry. (And the “God is controlling this football game” narrative is itself a cliche)
At least Lynch doesn’t waste your time like Wilson does.
It’s not just the fault of the athletes though.
Every time a reporter says “talk about…..,” “can you talk about,” “walk us through,” “how big was that” and/or “how does it feel to….” that reporter is tacitly saying either “I suck at my job” or “I’m not even trying to do my job right now.”
The other inevitability is that whatever response emerges from those types of mind-numbing questions will be a worthless platitude.
Look at how all the corporate spin-masters took control of someone very interesting and engaging (Rob Gronkowski) and totally lobotomized his public persona.
Bill Belichick hates the media with all his heart and it shows. That explains him. Like Marshawn Lynch, he’s being true to himself.
The next time Tom Brady says something even remotely close to being interesting, it will be the first.
Watch the Keith Olbermann video below. As he points out, sports-writing in the 1910s-1930s, rarely, if ever, involved hearing what the player or coach had to say.
I say we go back to that.
Like Olbermann said, TV and radio changed all that.
You’ll also notice that it’s usually TV and radio reporters who ask the questions that elicit the most brain-dead and worthless soundbites.
When it’s during a live shot it’s excusable and understandable. However, when they broadcast a shopworn platitude in a feature piece that underwent the editing process first, well that’s just laziness and bad journalism.
Then you have the hideous beast that is the immediate pre-game/halftime/post-game on field “interview.” How and why these are still in existence is beyond me. No need to elaborate on that. Deriding those worthless endeavors has become banal in and of itself.
TV and radio have really dumbed down the sports media reportage process.
Internet and newspaper writers have the luxury of pre-selecting their quotes, and discarding the pointless ones, but you still see lots of dumb-you-down cliches there as well. They’re just as guilty.
So where do we go from here?
Consider the European style “mixed zone.”
When European soccer teams come to the United States to play their preseason matches, they bring their media customs with them. A mixed zone puts the reporter on the same level as the common everyday fan. If the players want to stop and talk they will. If they don’t, they won’t. (spoiler alert: they won’t)
Yes, mixed zones are a bit demeaning to the media, but no more so than sending a reporter to cover some stupid hat picking ceremony when a high school kid selects his college.
Think about that, a professional journalist is ordered to go stake out a high school all day. For one purpose- to make some 18-year-old feel like he’s the center of the universe before deciding what hat to put on; a piece of headgear symbolizing what school he’ll be a faux student at for one season before heading to the NBA.
Cliff Alexander, Marshawn Lynch, Tom Brady etc. They have all been very important towards showing us the way.
Trust me, the fans WOULD NOT CARE, they would not miss it if athlete interviews all of a sudden ceased.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)