Blowhards out in Force

For whatever reason the field of sports writing seems to lack the ability to resist sensationalism, rushing broad judgments from single games and overindulging with inane rhetoric with regard to anything considered contentious. The last week of NFL games provided two happenings for typical overreach. Following the Packers losing to the Chiefs, all of a sudden a team that was to that point undefeated (and now 13-1) were vulnerable, provided a ‘blueprint’ (whatever that is) of how to beat them, were no longer Super Bowl favorites and their Quarterback had irretrievably damaged his candidacy for league MVP. No matter that the Packers lost to a real, actual NFL team, one with a poor record but still a professional team and that their quarterback still had a decent game and that the phrase ‘any given Sunday’ really holds meaning in the NFL. Second, many sports writers/commentators seemed to take 6 weeks (Denver’s 6 week winning streak) of frustration out in one day following the Broncos loss in Denver to the Patriots. The barbs were out, writers who insisted that the Broncos were winning in spite-of their quarterback Tim Tebow, who thought that the quarterback was receiving too much press along with those who disapprove of his personal life had at it with reckless abandon. Colin Cowherd, on his radio show and on ESPN’s Sports Nation, a Tebow detractor, was basically unlistenable due to smugness. Grantland.com’s Charles P. Pierce wrote a condescending and obnoxious true-believer anti-Christian missive on Tebow’s religion.

It has been said before that sports writers seem to have a chip on their shoulders because of a perceived lack of respect because of what they cover, games. Also known is that while there are many outlets for sporting journalism, it’s not exactly an open field and fierce competition for readership is thought to encourage exaggeration. Of course, it could simply be that some writers are foolish. It’s impossible to know exactly the reason for so much know it all, concocted seriousness judgmental flimflam passed off as writing associated with sports. Certainly every person’s opinion is allowed no matter how disrespectful, it doesn’t make it readable and the only solution is to become a better headline reader to avoid wasting any time and providing eyes to those pieces.