The media (myself not included) are a bunch of idiots and Tim Tebow is helping us see it clearly. Full disclosure, I really don’t like Tebow. I think he’s a jerk who should stop shoving his religion down my throat and a really really crappy quarterback who consistently gets the benefit of the doubt because of his celebrity and continues to be a stubborn, crappy quarterback. This post, however, is not about him. It’s about the idiots who cover him.
Last week, after Tebow, a divisive media figure already due to this disconnect between his popularity and skill level, went 18-39 passing for 172 yards and a garbage time touchdown in a 45-10 drubbing at the hands of the Detroit Lions, ESPN published an article entitled “Fox To Stick With Tebow….For Now.” The article was indicative of the general tone of sports reporting last week. Everybody was down on Timmy, questioning his ability and asking how long he could stick around. Today, after Tebow “lead” the Denver Broncos to a to a 38-24 victory over the Oakland Raiders by rushing for 118 yards and throwing for 10 competitions in 21 attempts for 124 yards and 2 scores, ESPN has a video up entitled “Can Tebow Lead Broncos to Playoffs?”
I am so sick of this crap. I’m sick of being treated like a moron by the media. There is absolutely no consistency in this type of analytic reporting. Do they think I don’t remember last week? I understand the intentional provocation and it’s role in sports reporting. And it’s certainly provocative to say that Tebow should be benched, just as it’s provocative to say he may lead his team to the postseason, but c’mon. The “reporting” they do to produce stories like these is nonexistent. It’s basically, “Tebow lost, let’s overreact and say something outrageous about him that really has no basis in reality and see if we can’t get a few extra internet hits.” And the same thing when Tebow wins. It’s insulting. It reminds of George Orwell’s book “1984” where every so often, the government changes the name of the country that they’re at war against and the public just goes right along with it.
It’s not just the sports media and it’s not just articles about Tim Tebow. In every sphere, politics, science, technology, economics, pop culture, etc., the media latches on to sensationalized stories in order to sell newspapers, ad space, etc. at the expense of the truth. A good example is the recent revelations of sexual misconduct by presidential candidate Herman Cain. I’m not a big Cain fan but I recognize that the story as it’s being reported is the accusation, not wether or not Cain actually committed the transgression.
ESPN prides itself on providing timely news and insightful analysis to events in the sports world. That mission, however, is compromised when they publish clearly reactionary pieces obviously designed to get read or watched rather than educate. The media needs to get it’s act together, stupid things like these Tebow articles are just embarrassing.
-Max Frankel
