Sports' Journalism (if it ever lived) is dead.

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In the past year, we've seen two of the world's most iconic athletes with pristine public personas fall hard from grace. I of course am speaking about Tiger and LeBron.
In my estimation, Tiger's only fault was that he got married. If he wasn't a married man, carrying on this secret lifestyle probably would have eventually boosted his street cred.

As for LeBron, I always wondered how a kid who has been treated like Prince Akeem since he turned 12 could be such an all-around-great-kid (every sportswriter in America's words, not mine). They all swooned, he's got Magic's smile, Jordan's athleticism and Larry's heart..... What they didn't mention, was that he had all of their egos (combined) before ever winning anything at the pro level.




The issue I take, is that, sure, these guys were pretty underhanded, and at all cost, spent a lot of time and effort on molding their images. But, c'mon, don't tell me Accenture didn't really know who Tiger was, I just don't believe it. It's all smoke and mirrors and advertisers know that. Look at all the notorious a**holes who are spokespeople for big companies, it's just silly to think otherwise.

I don't blame LeBron and Tiger as much as I do the media. Whaaaa???? Yeah, I said it. It's the media's job (in this country) to keep people in-check. To uncover things like Watergate, or steroids or other big issues. Sports reporting is just as important. In the era of the 24-hour newscycle, as in world news, there just isn't enough real reporting in sports journalism. What happened to keen insight? What happened to investigation or journalistic integrity? Need proof, just read anything by Rick Reilly ever. Or just turn on the "Sports Reporters" on ESPN on Sunday mornings. Mike Lupica and Mitch Albom battle each week for the smug c*nt of the week award.

So, it's currently in-style to trash LeBron and Tiger. Forget the 10 years (for Tiger) and the 7 (for LeBron) of postive reporting. Forget all the stories about how these two transceded sports and represented a greater good. Forget that the sports media along with advertisers forced this down all of our throats.

As I said, I don't begrudge Tiger or LeBron, if someone grants you the power to act out, chances are, you probably will. I begrudge the media, who allowed advertisers, personal assistants and PR firms (to name a few) to dictate the terms of athletes. Now, we have people like Rick Reilly giving Tiger advice to retire from the sport(seriously). What's most perplexing about this suggestion is that if you listen, almost every athlete (aside from Milton Bradley) will say something to the effect of:
When I'm on the court/field/whatever, it's my last sanctuary. I feel, no one can touch me here, I am at peace, it's where everything makes sense.
 Guess you have to listen, before you can report.

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