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The sports media landscape has shifted significantly in recent years. No longer do we rely on Sports Illustrated for the majority of our sports literature. Anyone can give their two cents on the game, and some become famous doing so. Bill Simmons is the most recognizable of the new age. With over a million Twitter followers and his own website just launching (grantland.com), Simmons is the preeminent voice of sports to the average fan. He has his haters, but his success is truly remarkable.
Many of the sports writer celebrities started off, or have ended up at ESPN, and that might be the reason for a recent trend whereby they stop reporting the news and attempt to become the news. One of the first lessons of journalism is to not become the story. But we are entering an age of writers who are trying to brand themselves and create controversy rather than simply reporting on it.
This has bubbled to the surface during the NBA Finals on two occasions already. Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports was the centre of a bit of a storm when he called out LeBron James during the game 1 post-game press conference. Doyel has since taken the stance that LBJ is not a superstar, and he is relishing in the moment. Many have called him out, but his column on CBSsports.com has surely picked up huge page views in the past week.
Then last night, the one and only Jason Whitlock took a stab at asking questions during the Game 4 presser. He was barely able to ask a coherent question without kissing Rick Carlisle‘s shoes, and he came off as nothing resembling a professional scribe. He will write and tweet extensively about it. Several references will be made to The Wire, and he too will generate huge views on his articles and content explaining his experience.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to be relevant in the sports media world today. You have to write, tweet, podcast and appear on TV to top it all off. If you are even an hour behind on a story, you are way out of the loop, and your followers will let you know that you missed it.
So is the cult of personality that many reporters are creating for themselves necessarily a bad thing? Well sports fans are consuming content in a way like never before. So it takes certain guys who rise to the top to feed them the all of this content. But at what cost?
[image: ESPN]
Skip Bayless recently accused Chris Broussard of ‘selling his journalistic soul’ to get close to LeBron and his entourage. While this may not have been entirely accurate, Brousssard surely sacrificed something in order to gain access to LBJ, Mav Carter and the rest of LRMR. But he had the scoop on several big stories during the first year of The Big Three in South Beach. So maybe it is worth it.
Everyone knows Bill Simmons is a homer for everything Boston. Everyone knows Whitlock will bring certain cards into the argument that he knows will polarize his readers. Doyel will pick and prod at people and issues, while maintaining a respectable level of professionalism. Maybe this is exactly what is required to be relevant today. If you don’t have anything interesting to say, or you don’t say it in a scandalous manner, who will listen?
The actual sports that are reported on today have become secondary to the story behind the game. Relationships and affairs and scandals. Trades and free agents and rumours detailing every potential deal. Rules changes and collective bargaining agreements dominate the headlines. Fines and suspensions for breaking the rules are handed down daily. Investigations, brought forth by the highest level of government, are launched to determine why players are taking steroids. College athletes are so wrapped up in impermissible benefits that the games have become secondary to the scandals. Has the sports world seen a bigger story than Tiger and his mistresses?
So where does this leave us? Well, the world of sports, and the way they are reported on, has been changed irreparably. Writers are becoming more important than the stories they are reporting on. We are drowning in so much content without any context that we may soon drown.
But such is the evolution of the sports media landscape, and we are simply going along for the ride.
Editor’s Note: Lawrence Dushenski is a Toronto Raptors fan. You can follow him on twitter @LD10. Read more of his articles by clicking here.
