Outspoken Athletes

From The Players' Tribune, The Cauldron, David-Wise.com, and Jacob Webster

Analysis by J. Reid Dickerson in SRM 334 (section 2)

Ever changing technology has allowed for significant growths in journalism and news reporting. News journalism has gone from regional reporting to international, from pens and paper to laptops and recording devices, and from newspapers and journals to radio and television then to internet reporting and cellphone news updates. Also with the improvements in technology, there is an increase in the amount of pundits putting forth their opinion on certain topics in the news. Nowadays, anyone can get or give opinions on certain news topics in a number of ways from comments on a news article to phone calls to a television station or radio station. The growing popularity of the public being interested in the opinions of former players and reporters on certain topics has led to many networks such as ESPN, ABC, NBC, and FOX News giving their analysts talk shows to voice their opinions to the tune of fantastic ratings and high listenerships. This occurrence is most popular in the sports reporting world with shows like Mike and Mike, First Take, and The Herd with Colin Cowherd, all on ESPN, featuring reporters giving their opinions on athletes and certain sports. This way of reporting has put the athlete at a disadvantage because it gives the athletes no real way to respond to their critics except in interviews and game news conferences where they have to field questions and can’t always respond the way they want. Because of this, more and more athletes have been writing first person articles to show their perspectives on certain sports topics, giving the fan a completely new way to interact with the athletes of their favorite sports.

When Derek Jeter retired in 2014, he quickly invested himself in life after baseball by starting a website called The Players Tribune, a website that gives current players a voice and a way to share their opinions, ideas and thoughts on their sports and athletics as a whole. Contributing writers and topics that have been tackled have been Derek Jeter on cleaning out his locker, Blake Griffin about Donald Sterling and the teams overall thoughts about the entire situation, and Danica Patrick on racing against her boyfriend. The Players Tribune seems to be the leading outlet for athletes to contribute their ideas and thoughts but is not the only way for athletes to let their voices be heard.

Blog posts and letters also are a way for athletes to give their view and outlook. Recently, Josh Gordon has published a letter he wrote to Stephen A. Smith, Charles Barkley, and other individuals who had criticized him for repeatedly getting suspended from the NFL for marijuana and alcohol related transgressions. In the letter, he describes why he got suspended most recently and why he doesn’t care what Stephen A. Smith or anyone else has to say about him because he has never met them. The article was hard to believe and seemed like a long string of excuses written by a hard-headed person who doesn’t want to stop living the life he is living but perhaps it is really the truth.

Other blog examples have come from the freeskiing community. Before the X Games one week ago, many people in the ski and snowboard community were in an uproar about the double booking of the FIS World Championships and the Winter X Games Aspen on the same weekend, making it nearly impossible for athletes to make both contests. Each contests has its merits. The FIS World Championships is the top competition offered by the FIS and has strong ties to Olympic qualifying. The X Games are the action sports world top contest and the first of its kind. Both David Wise, half pipe skier who is defending champion at both events, and Jacob Wester, who is not competing at either event, published articles describing the unprecedented problem, both with their own points. David Wise explained that the FIS were acting very arrogantly by expecting the top action sports stars in the world to skip the X Games, an event that was literally made for them, and attend the FIS World Championships. The X Games have always been held the weekend before the Super Bowl so as to obtain the greatest viewership and by the FIS scheduling their contest the same dates showed their pompous attitude and uncaring nature towards freestyle events. David Wise explained that he and other athletes tried to get the FIS to move the freeskiing events to the beginning of the contest so the athletes could make both events, to which they refused. The fact that the top 16 (16 riders is a full field) skiers and snowboarders for each discipline were on location in Aspen for X Games shows how much these athletes care about the X Games. In Jacob Wester’s post, he explained how he liked the comradery of the X Games because each athlete is competing for themselves instead of for their country as they are at the FIS World Championships which shows that the athletes are more supportive of each other doing well rather than winning for a country. Overall, the FIS hurt themselves by scheduling their event on top of the X Games because the best athletes were in Aspen and their competition was downgraded in intensity because of the lackluster attendees.

Due to the increase in these first person essays and blog posts written by current athletes who are in the middle of the sport and are most up to date on such topics rather than former athletes working for a news network, it seems that athletes are interested in sharing their opinions. The articles give fans an inside look at an athlete’s life and their feelings without the athlete feeling like they have to write the article or are writing it for someone else as they might feel in interview or news conferences. Hopefully, more athletes across all sports disciplines will join in and contribute their own pieces to continue this positive trend.