We have so many sports news outlets. From radio sports talk shows to television sports discussions to online articles written by staff writers and journalists. All of these media outlets gives us sports journalists as well as former players, coaches, and executives. With all of that, you would think that you would get top notch coverage and analysis. Instead, you get mediocre to substandard coverage that makes you wonder why these people get paid millions to be on the screen.
Stupid Takes
Many of these pundits come up with lame, forced, and stupid takes that you would expect from some 12-year-old on the sports forum Real GM. Let’s go back 6 years in the NFL. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco proclaimed himself to be a top 5 quarterback (even though he was and is clearly not). Media outlets from ESPN, to bleacher report, and more started opening discussions and pushing this narrative that Joe Flacco is a top 5 quarterback. It made no sense.
Either these pundits are saying nonsense because they’re bored in the summer or they actually believe what they say. It got worse when the Ravens won the Super Bowl that year. He was good in that playoff run (albeit, a lot of underthrown junk balls and help from Anquan Boldin) so you know the media was going to ramp up the narrative. Despite the fact that he was average, they kept trying to say it until it died off after he put forth more mediocre years following the 2012 Super Bowl run.
On a separate note, a lot of these analysts will see a player have a few good games and want to proclaim the player as the next guy. The player will end up sucking after a season or two and then they wonder what happened. Usually it’s because the player’s weaknesses got exposed. You have to take context and circumstances into account when analyzing players. Especially in American football, are they being masked by play calling or the talent around them? People like to judge quarterbacks by solely wins even when they’re not playing well but then wonder why they suck after. Well, when those things around them change and they don’t get better, you will now wonder what’s going on.
Bad Coverage
When a player or team struggles, instead of some of these analysts breaking it down and explaining what happened, many would just say things like “the player couldn’t rise to the moment” or “the other team wanted it more”. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t help that players and coaches say the same crap (but they do it to avoid explaining gameplans). Only some few analysts add actual in depth knowledge for the fan. We usually only get plays that are explained with the in game crew, not the ones in the studios that much.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup on FS1 had some spotty coverage. I won’t name names but a few of the analysts failed to give us much insight in these games. On second thought, I will name names. FS1 soccer analyst Alexi Lalas was asked to express a takeaway from the group stage of the tournament. Nothing too complicated. Just a simple observation. You would hope to expect something like “we’re seeing the impact of VAR (instant replay basically)” or “We saw some of the favorites struggle”. Nope. Instead we got “we’re seeing the thinning of the teams and I look forward to the round of 16”. That’s it.
Even the other analysts were silent for a few seconds. They didn’t know what do with that. Lalas gave them nothing to work with. It’s such a useless comment to make. You didn’t even have to make a basic observation. It could be about the amount of goal scores, VAR, yellow cards, tactical approaches, anything! But no. You basically said we have less teams now as we advance in the tournament and you’re looking forward to the single elimination rounds. Thank you. That’s top notch analysis there.
Not everyone is always that bad but it seems like the only time you get anything good is when someone is breaking down film. At least then, you get to see whatever strategy is being implored or how a player is being effective or rendered ineffective, regardless of the sport. Otherwise, you’re just hearing sound bites that your friend that is a casual fan sitting next to you just said while watching the game.
Forced Storylines Blown Out of Proportion
The media likes to take things and make a big deal out of it. All of these shows (we have too many of them now) will beat it to death. Journalists that cover these teams will ask questions. Writers will put up articles on it. Nonstop for a week. And it’s usually over something not that important.
Case and point is with Odell Beckham. We know the story. 2 seasons ago. New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham and some of his wide receiver teammates had a photo taken of them with Justin Bieber on some boat during the week leading up to their playoff games. All of these obnoxious sports media outlets went ham. They kept saying how it is a distraction and immature and irresponsible. All that silliness. Am I saying he should or shouldn’t have just waited until the season ends before partying it up? Nope. But what I am saying is that the action in itself is not that big of a deal. Players before social media probably did these things all the time and it usually didn’t affect their play.
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Some will point to how Odell and his teammates had a bad game and got blown out as evidence that it was distraction. Well… Not quite. The party and photo aren’t. They still practice and prepared throughout the week. If there was any distraction it was probably from the team having to deal with all of these questions from the media about it. If they didn’t make it a big deal then it wouldn’t have been. It’s lame. The media cares more about this than even some fans do.
Wrapping Up
All of these sports outlets make the same narratives, the same opinions, and the same limited scope of knowledge. Even most of the former players and coaches surprise with their lack of insight being brought to the table. Not to mention, it’s usually plagued with biases. As eluded to earlier, these outlets are front runners. They won’t tell you when a team or player is a fraud. They just hype them up and jump off the bandwagon when it goes bad. They don’t add context to certain player struggles. They just go with a good or bad stance. If you want the truth on these coveted sports discussions, then read more from TakeThisSports.
