Angry Fans

While doing my normal snooping around sports websites, I came across a headline that made me shriek with joy –– “Lebron says quote misinterpreted, compares self to Randy Moss.” As a Cavaliers fan, I was ecstatic to discover the new public relations nightmare that Lebron was about to create by comparing himself to one of the most hated, clueless, egotistical and bizarre figures in sports. And that player just happens to have been run out of town by another of my favorite teams (the Vikings) for the second time in six years. Needless to say, I was excited for this article, not only because it concerned two players I loved but now hate, but because for James to compare himself to Randy Moss shows how far his star has fallen.
Alas, as I clicked on the link, my dreams were shattered. The “comparison” to Moss was not a comparison at all. James, who the day before had made seemingly innocuous comments about his playing time that caused a media frenzy, had simply said, “you kind of understand sometimes what Randy Moss is talking about, when he says I will not be answering any more questions because every time I say something it gets turned out of character.” Although it humors me greatly that in his attempt to defuse misinterpreted comments and criticize the media for overreacting he essentially compounded these problems, this entire story made me think a lot about the relationship between athletes, journalists and social media.
The incentives for using social media to connect the athlete to the public are great for both parties. When we want to know about Chad Ochocinco, it is much easier to follow his Twitter feed and get information straight from the source than it is to find relevant stories online. For athletes like Randy Moss, the allure of controlling the story is huge because it insulates him from controversy to some extent. But while social media has certainly given the public unprecedented insight into the lives of athletes, it does minimize the role of sports journalists. This is dangerous because journalists provide depth and context to stories that the public is not aware of and that athletes may not find important or may not want to share. We lose something very important when we go straight to the source.
However, sports journalists are also very much at fault in this equation. We are in an age where sports media is increasingly sensationalized, and the evidence of this is clear when headlines claiming that Lebron James is comparing himself to Randy Moss pop up across the Internet. This privileging of shock value over substance not only pushes athletes more towards social media –– because they do not want their quotes to be misconstrued –– but it is also partially a response to the growing irrelevance of journalists, who are struggling to keep viewers interested. This cyclical problem appears difficult to escape, but essential to overcome if we value what journalists provide to our understanding of sports. The solution is that sports journalism needs to go back to telling a real story. Frills, eye-catching headlines and wild speculations need to be replaced by depth, research and real analysis. The role of journalists is to provide what we cannot get from athletes.

Spencer Wright ’11 is from Burlington, Vt.