Last week, Aaron Rodgers got into "trouble" with members of the media. Rodgers was on the court after Wisconsin's win over Arizona in the Elite 8. Officially, only official workers, NCAA team members (usually just the winners), and credentialed media are allowed on the floor after games. Rodgers was invited by the Wisconsin team to come down with them. CBSSports.com writer Dennis Dodd called him out on it but only after Rodgers refused an interview with Dodd. Dodd then took to twitter to point out Rodgers wasn't supposed to be on the floor and was being given special privileges that regular fans didn't have.
There is so much stupid shit to respond to in the Dodd complaint and the ensuing arguments the least of which would be to ask if Rodgers had talked to you would you still have acted like a tattling little sibling who didn't get his way? Dodd then said that he should be allowed to attend Rodgers' wedding to Olivia Munn because "he's a fan." I love how Mike & Mike and Colin Cowherd responded to this idiotic false analogy: He was wanted there; you won't be. Then, all this boils down to Rodgers HAD a pass to go on the floor. He was given it by the Wisconsin athletic director. Rodgers has since pointed this out on twitter and called Dodd a joke. Which, really, thanks to Dodd's childish reaction to being blown off by a sports star who was being a fan in a completely different sport, Dodd really is a joke. He committed the sin of making the media the news.
If the media IS the news, then something is wrong with the news and the media. Now, there are obvious exceptions: a special (good or bad) event, the retirement, or death, of a long time prominent personality (Dan Rather breaking down reporting on 9/11, the deaths of Peter Jennings and Walter Cronkite). Media is a lens. It should act like one. It should present the story not make the story. Think of a window. When you're looking outside, the window is showing you outside. The only time you really notice the window is when there is something wrong with the window (cracked, broken, dirty). Media SHOULD function the same way. The only time we notice the media is when something is wrong with the media (Brian Williams' fake story earlier this year which earned him a 6 month suspension without pay).
But when the media MAKES the story about themselves, it seems either grandstanding or petulant (or both). When the media starts reporting about how certain athletes won't talk to the media or certain media members, then the media becomes the story and that defeats the purpose. Don't get me wrong, it is nearly impossible to report without at least some bias coloring the reporting. There are whole classes, journals, and professions dedicated to the analysis of language in media and how it affects perception. I'm not looking at that. I'm looking at the media getting in the way of the story. I'm looking at the window that winds up being so broken or dirty that it is opaque. This is paying attention to the window, not the view.
In addition to the Rodgers story, we only have to go back a couple of months to the phrase "I'm just here so I don't get fined." Remember that? Marshawn Lynch made headlines by talking about not talking to the media. And they ATE. IT. UP. The only stories I remember from the week leading up to Superbowl XLIX were that phrase, Seattle teammates defending Lynch, and Deflate-gate. 2 stories about the media and one manufactured by the media.
Another key example of media stupidity/general uncouthness takes us back to the 1999 World Series between the Yankees and the Braves. Controversial figure Pete Rose was allowed back in an MLB ballpark for the first time since his ban. He was allowed because of his role in the All-Century Team (All-Century (insert noun here) was huge in 1999 and 2000 as an excuse to start conversations and arguments about who had been really good the previous 100 years). Jim Gray, in interviewing Rose, chose instead to focus on Rose's ban, gambling, and his not being in the Hall of Fame. It was uncomfortable to watch as Rose tried to focus more on the good (which is why he was there) rather than the bad (which he had dealt with since his ban began). There was no reason for Gray to press the issue, keeping Rose from enjoying one baby step back into baseball. People responded. NBC was inundated with complaints about Gray. The Yankees did the best thing you can do to punish a reporter, they refused to give him anything to report. As NBC's field reporter to the Yankee dugout, Gray was expected to interview the team before and after the game. As at team, New York took Gray's one purpose for being at the stadium away. They boycotted him. Instead of telling him privately, they did to him what he had done to Rose the night before. They embarrassed him on national TV. When Chad Curtis, who had just hit a walk off home run, was approached by Gray with cameras rolling, Curtis told him that the Yankees weren't going to speak to Gray after his interview with Rose. After seeing the previous night's ambush reporting, Curtis' words offered more than a little schadenfreude at Gray's expense.
Athletes are going to not talk to the media. They're going to want to walk away. Some cases are given a pass, other's aren't. Michael Jordan was famous for not talking to the media during the playoffs--pass. The NFL media rights didn't allow Lynch that luxury and it became the story that shouldn't-have-been. The media gave Lynch a stage and he played them like a fiddle. He said just enough to get his message about not wanting to talk to the media out. The media did the rest by creating a feeding frenzy about nothing.
Sports fans have our favorite announcers and commentators. Dave Niehaus has a special place in the hearts of Mariner fans over radio waves. the way Bob Sheppard was the Voice of God for Yankees fans at the stadium. Those of us who lived and loved the Jordan years associate Marv Albert's "A SpecTACular Move" with Jordan. A lot of us have the announcers we revile. I will mute a broadcast, even the Super Bowl if Joe Buck is announcing. I felt the same way about Bill Walton when he was on the NBA on NBC. We already notice the window because of how the window shows us the view. In most cases, that is impossible to avoid. We are going to agree or disagree with the announcers. It is when they are getting in the way of the game, the news of the game, and the news around the game, that is unacceptable.
AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP SHOWING RANDOM RELATIVES, FRIENDS, AND ASSHOLES IN THE STANDS DURING GAMES! THAT IS THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WITH THE WHOLE RODGERS THING! THEY KEPT SHOWING HIM WHEN I WANTED TO WATCH BASKETBALL!
