Just admit it, you want people making inflammatory statements

Sometimes you have to ask people who talk out both sides of their mouth
“What do you really want?”

When it comes to athletes and coaches, particularly at the college and
professional levels, answers to interview questions can range from boring/
canned/cliche to inflammatory/controversial. I witnessed such responses
first-hand during my 18 years as a sports reporter, mostly in Napa Valley,
CA but also as a freelance writer for an Oakland Raiders fan magazine and
covering University of Nebraska athletics for my college newspaper, shoutout
Daily Nebraskan. I have continued to witness them as a fan four years after
being out of the newspaper industry.

At the professional and college level, some of the more colorful interviewees
I have heard in my lifetime include but are not limited to Bobby Knight, Mike
Ditka, Buddy Ryan, Earl Weaver, Tommy Lasorda, Lou Piniella, Jim Mora,
Brian Bosworth and Charles Barkley to name a few. I could think of many
more but in the interest of space, I will spare you.

The inflammatory element is not absent at the high school level either because
when reading quotes by sources, there is the what the sender of the message
said versus what the receiver of the message interprets. Those two concepts
are often in two different zip codes.

For example, during homecoming week of high school football, I would often
ask coaches about how to manage distractions of the week long festivities in
lieu of preparing for the game. I didn’t ask because I cared because come
Friday, I’m there to cover the football game. At halftime when the festivities
are happening, I’m taking a siesta. I posed the question because a) Readers
want to know and b) I considered it part of my job so I felt the need to at
least give lip service to posing the question. Most coaches gave the standard
“Stay focused on the task at hand” line. One year when I covered Calistoga
High, then head coach Mike Ervin said something to the effect of “The last
time I checked, people come for the football game, not the other BS.”

Coach Ervin, whom I consider a friend, got himself in hot water and told me
as much after the fact. I told him, “Coach, you have no reason to apologize.
You were being honest and if people don’t like it, screw them.” Coach Ervin
thanked me, I think because my message was consistent, meaning, I did
not praise him one minute and turn on him the next.

Then there are the ones that give cliche ridden answers that toe the line so
they do not get in trouble. What stands out to me is that fans and media alike
are the first to dissect comments that can be construed as inflammatory. In
the same breath, they will advocate players or teams to let their actions do
the talking. Yet, when a player or coach gives a cliche interview, the same
media and fans are the first ones to blast them.

So it begs the question, what do you really want?

The answer is pretty clear, people want controversy even if they are the first
ones to abhor such. The common culprit that most people point to is the media.
I use the term “media” because “journalist” has become a foreign concept.
After all, we live in a world where louder is presumed better. Look no further
than TV talk shows with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe on Fox Sports.
For that matter, you have ESPN’s First Take with Max Kellerman and Stephen
A. Smith (aka Screamin’ A. Smith).

It’s easy to blame the media because there are so many outlets that one is
trying to outdo the other. Why? Clickbait journalism. The more inflammatory,
the more people will read/listen. While I’m not giving the media a pass, the
same fans that criticize the media are not blameless in this matter either.
Why? Because the same fans that like athletes and/or coaches to just “do
their job” and not say anything inflammatory are the first ones to call someone
boring and turn their attention to the controversial statements.

Therein lies the question and it becomes a chicken or egg theory. Does the
media sensationalize inflammatory comments because fans like them? Or do
fans like inflammatory comments because the media provides them?

Next time you hear your favorite athlete or coach pontificate, perhaps you
either a) Should be honest with yourself and admit that you love such
statements or b) Just admit that you the fan fed the monster by wanting the
media to emphasize the pontification but in the next breath, you want them
to tame it.

Translation, just admit it, you like inflammatory statements, it’s just a matter
of do you laugh with them or at them.