Media Criticism

I love sports and I am a huge football fan (I grew up in Green Bay so I don’t think I could be anything else.) It is tough to admit to everyone that I spend hours on Saturdays and Sundays watching football games while letting projects gather dust on my desk. There are many places where I diverge from fellow football fans including collecting sports memorabilia, calling sports talk radio about my fantasy team and devoting all of my small talk to sports. The NFL Draft represents one of those points of divergence and I think that it represents some of the worst aspects of professional sports.

ESPN has been covering the NFL Draft since the New York Giants won the Super Bowl in February. There is no reason that ESPN needs to show the same stuff 24 hours per day and it would be great if they showed some world sports that may be taking place at odd hours. The worst part about ESPN’s coverage is that it shows the useless nature of speculation by football experts like Chris Mortensen and Mel Kiper Jr.

There is a bigger problem with the NFL Draft that makes me uncomfortable about my level of fandom. One look at the crowd and announcers in New York City shows the salivating, fan-boy nature of the (mostly) male fans of the NFL. There is no compunction by anyone involved in the coverage about the first overall pick, Michigan tackle Jake Long, receiving the largest contract for any tackle in the NFL. There is a mixture of naivety and harsh tones when the experts speak about the legal or personal troubles of some of the young players involved in the draft.

I think we should look at the NFL Draft as another form of the stock market. Rich people manipulate young players, the media and average fans to pad their accounts. The draft shares other characteristics with the stock market including the boring nature of the event and the uncertainty of each “stock�? purchased. If I were an investor looking for a new cable channel, I would create an ESPN-like network for the stock market with celebrities, loud-mouth experts and talking heads shouting about various markets. The fact that the NFL Draft is televised is a testament to the ability of TV’s creative minds to turn crap into gold.

I know that this post does not relate directly to the media though it does point out yet another problem with 24-hour channels. I hope that fans like myself become more mindful of the ridiculous nature of sports coverage in general and the NFL Draft in specific.

I have enjoyed soccer since I played summer ball in high school and college. It is an interesting sport with a lot of grace, speed and skill required over a 90 minute period. The arguments by American sports fans against the sport are understandable when looking through the lens of “mines bigger than yours�? sports fans who want scoring and offense constantly.

Alright, I fall into that latter group in certain instances based on my mood. I do know one thing for certain without reservations due to my daily mood swings: America will never be ready for soccer. The only way soccer will make it in America is if we go to a parliamentary system, eliminate other sports and become more physically fit. Unfortunately, none of these things will happen.

David Beckham IS the next Pele when it comes to professional soccer in America. Pele came to America to play pro soccer in New York in the 1970s in the twilight of his career and the league collapsed in the aftermath of his retirement. Beckham has barely played and he is drawing the attention of the people that matter to the media: celebrities. When Beckham retires prematurely due to injury in a year’s time, the media will pack up shop and Tom Cruise will cash in his Galaxy season tickets and try to get American football back in the City of Angels.

It is time to stop pretending that David Beckham is some sports savior and realize that most European soccer observers see him as someone on the wane of his career. Sorry to go sports talk radio on all of you in a media criticism blog but celebrity news and real news shows need to chill out.