by John Scanlan
There’s one thing I have learned since joining the Mid-Valley staff: Football coaches and athletes are a very sensitive bunch.
Now this isn’t meant to be a blanket statement. There are some coaches who “get it” and take it for what it is. They just appreciate the coverage and attention and have fun with it.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case with many coaches and athletes. If you don’t mention them, somehow you’re slighting them. If you don’t pick them to win despite their 1-7 record, you’re disrespecting them. If you don’t talk about how the 4th receiver at a school has “stepped up” by going from one catch a game to two, you’re playing favorites.
For a sport that prides itself on toughness, it’s amazing how much damage some written or unwritten words can seemingly do. I’m not going to mention names or anything. I don’t want to do any more psychological damage and get a flood of emails.
Just because your QB isn’t ranked #1 doesn’t mean we think he sucks. Somebody has to be #1 and somebody has to be #2. Just like someone needs to be #10, #20, etc.
When predictions are made in regards to an upcoming game, the basic premise is one team must be picked to win and one team must be picked to lose. Seems pretty easy to understand, but there have actually been reporters verbally berated because of something as trivial as a prediction. Ironically, these are the same people that preach mental toughness to their players.
Look, I understand that there’s a lot of time and preparation put into a football season and emotions run high, but why give a flip what some guy writing for a newspaper thinks?
I think, in a sense, there’s a rush to feel as important as a college or professional athlete or coach. So when the “media” doesn’t give the proper “respect” (i.e. kiss their fundament and tell them how great they are), they feel like they’ve arrived. They don’t want that to end, so they get into a verbal sparring match with the local writers.
I’ve never seen a writer drop a pass, miss a tackle or fumble. I’ve never seen a writer call the wrong coverage or call a running play in a situation that clearly calls for a pass. I have also never seen a writer pretend to be 100% accurate when it came to making assessments or making predictions.
If the only opinion of your team or yourself that you want is your own, then stick to your school newspapers. Don’t beg for attention and then get sour when you don’t read what you want to read. Otherwise, settle down and take our opinions and analysis for what it is: opinions and analysis.
Quick Scans inflicts mental damage every Monday-Thursday at midvalleysports.com
Leave a Reply